Standing Alone Together
by Marzena
Summary: When Hope, Lex, Falcon and Hawk are stranded on the mainland while the Mall Rats escape by boat, the four of them decide to find their own destiny. Starts out with these four characters, but old and new faces will return in later chapters.
1. The Last Night Of The World

**The Last Night Of The World**

Nothing. Well, not exactly nothing, but no boat, either. Just the waves, softly crashing against the quay wall. There was the boat guy, from whom May had gotten the boat in the first place, looking rather pissed, and frightened, too. But there was no boat, not even far out at sea. There was just – well, nothing. Just nothing.

They stood there, waiting, frightened. For a while, none of them spoke. Finally, Hope found her voice, but it was rather shaky.

„No – it can't be!" she exclaimed, staring out at the sea, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of a rather big boat with their friends on it.

„Well, as you see, it can be", Lex grumbled. „They left, just like that. They left us here to die!"

There was more silence after that, and the strong wind that always seemed to be present here at the quay tousled their hair.

„It's got to be a mistake", Hawk then said. „Amber would never ..."

„Apparently, she did", Lex interrupted, now sounding angry. „Your precious Amber left you, dumped you to die here in this contaminated rat hole!"

„So did Courage!" Falcon exclaimed, glaring at Lex. She'd never been one of his greatest fans, and most of the time, he annoyed the hell out of her.

„So she did", Lex just said, sounding somewhat bitter and disappointed. They'd had their fights during those last few days, lot's of them, but he never thought she'd just leave him here to die.

„The hotel exploded", Hope tried to find reason. „Maybe they thought we're all dead. Maybe they didn't stick around because they were scared. You know, second virus and everything. They had children on that boat. Ruby might be pregnant. They ..."

„That is no reason!" Lex exploded, glaring at her. She looked down at her old boots and didn't finish her thoughts.

„They probably just didn't think we'd come", Hawk finally said. „I mean, why would they? I always said that my home's in the woods, and ..."

„And they probably assumed that I'd follow you there", Falcon finished his sentence. „I mean, you and I, we're not even Mall Rats. Although … rat boy over here and Hope certainly are."

Lex looked ready to smack her, but in the end, he didn't. Falcon could certainly stand her own, and he didn't want her to win while everyone was watching. Well, of course she wouldn't win, he told himself immediately. But …

Hope interrupted, sounding tired. „I guess they overlooked me, as usual", she said. „And as for you, Lex, you know you yelled at Courage that you'd rather become a member of the Gaians than stick around with her."

„Yeah, and that was meant to hurt her!" he growled. „I didn't mean that! I'd never decorate myself with bark and dirt and eat grass, you know that!"

„Gee, thanks, Lex." Hawk rolled his eyes. „And just so you know, the Gaian council would never approve of your membership anyway."

„Fine! Because I don't want to be part of your stupid tribe! I want ..."

„The Mall Rats? Well, look at the quay, idiot! Your so-called friend just ditched you!" Falcon shouted, bringing their situation back into conversation.

Silence again, and four desperate young people stared out at sea. There was a thick fog further out, so everything beyond that wasn't visible. All they could see was a grey formless mass.

„The boats are all somewhere in the mist", the boat guy brought himself into the conversation.

They all turned to him, eyebrows raised.

„Boats?" Falcon echoed. „As in, multiple ones?"

„Yeah. Quiet a few, actually. You know, with those nasty rumours about that other virus and everything, the kids got scared. They panicked."

„Those aren't rumours, idiot!" Lex shouted.

„Let him talk!" Hawk cut him off, earning some dirty looks from Lex who hated to be cut off.

„They took the boats, all of them", the guy told them, ignoring Lex. „Some tried to get on your friend's boat as well. There was a big crowd of people here at the quay and things weren't pretty. Your friends had to leave, or the mob would have dragged them overboard in no time."

They stared at the guy, trying to imagine the situation. Hope looked around and noticed that indeed there was not a single boat left. Even the old wooden one was gone.

„This is all your fault", Falcon finally said, looking at Lex. „You ran off back to the hotel!"

„Gel said she saw Tai-san!"

„Gel would say anything to get you to stay behind with her", Hope remembered. „She wanted you to leave with her all along. She's been trying to get you away from Courage for weeks."

„In the end, that little idiot went with the others when I told her that the hotel was supposed to explode", Hawk sighed.

Yes, instead of running back to the hotel with Hope, Falcon and Hawk, the only ones who'd been present to go and warn Lex, she'd been running in the other direction.

„She could have told the others to wait", Hope said. „But she probably thought it was too late for anything, seeing the explosion and the fire."

„Yeah, and then she thought what the others would say if they'd know that Gel's stupidity had send us on some worthless hunt for Tai-san and Lex, so she didn't say anything", Falcon concluded angrily.

„It's not just Gel's fault", Hawk said. „You and I ran back for Mouse, too. It was all pretty chaotic. Everyone was scared and in a panic. We can't blame anyone for that."

True. In all that horror and chaos, Mouse had been lost, and since she was a Gaian now, Hawk had felt responsible, so he'd ran back, followed by Falcon. They'd met Mouse halfway, where she'd told them that Hope had already send her, Mouse, to the quay before she'd left for the hotel and for Lex. They'd found that rather strange and told Mouse to make a run for the boat. Then they'd ran off to investigate only to meet a crying Gel at the Mall. They'd send Gel off to the boat as well and then they'd try to stop Lex or at least, stop Hope. But they hadn't even come close to the hotel when the explosion had happened. Then Hope and Lex had appeared, but there hadn't been much time for talking. They'd been running all the way to the quay, only to find their friends gone.

„It's no good blaming each other", Hope sighed. „What happened, happened. I guess Gel and Mouse are safe, as well as the others. That's one thing to be thankful for."

„I am not thankful for Gel's safety!" Lex exploded, hitting a stone with his foot and kicked it into the water. It sank fast, leaving no trace behind.

„We need a boat of our own", Falcon finally decided. „To follow the others, and to get away from the city and the second virus. Otherwise ..."

She didn't have to say it. The horror struck again, leaving them feeling helpless against a danger they could do nothing about.

„Don't you get it?" the guy said. „There is no other boat. Unless you have one hidden away somewhere, there's no boat left here. Some were destroyed or taken in the time since the virus started, and the rest was taken today. There's nothing left!"

„But there has to be!" Lex shouted, grabbing the guy by his collar and smashing him into the nearest wall.

„Lex! Let him go!"

Falcon and Hawk grabbed Lex and dragged him away from the guy.

„He has to get us a boat!" he shouted, struggling against them.

„He can't", Hawk stated matter-of-factly. „And neither can we. That virus – Mega said, it will be transferable through the air, through the water – it will spread, and it will spread fast. Could be not as dangerous as we think, or could be very, very dangerous. Getting away from here by boat was a great chance to escape all this. But we can't. Now our best chance is to leave the city and never come back."

Silence once more. Lex stopped struggling, but then got mad again.

„Who says I want to leave the city with any of you? Who says I want to stick around with you guys? And who made you boss, grasshopper? And ..."

„You're angry, you're pissed, you're scared, we get that!" Falcon impatiently interrupted. „But really, Lex, we're the only ones you have left. Do you think we like being stuck with you! Fat chance! But here we are … and I think I'd rather try to get away with people I know than on my own or with strangers."

„I'm not scared!" he yelled at her, but he didn't say anything about wandering off on his own any more, something Hope was grateful about. She liked Hawk and Falcon, but they weren't Mall Rats, and they were together. Being stuck with only them … that would leave her as the third wheel, and she didn't like the thought. It was hard enough for her that all her Mall Rat friends were gone.

„Yes, you are", Falcon insisted. „We all are, Lex. And that's okay, considering what has happened. But we can not stay here!"

„We could already be infected", Lex insisted, glaring at her for calling him scared.

„Not likely. The explosion was just now. That virus needs time to spread. And we're at the edge of town anyway. We need to leave now, getting as far away from the city as possible. And we have to avoid other people. Animals, too. At least those around here. And as long as we're near the city, we can't drink water."

What Hawk said made perfect sense, even Lex saw that. Or maybe he'd just ran out of arguments. They left the quay and the guy and followed Hawk, who knew how to get to the outskirts of town. They didn't meet anyone on their way. Once they heard some people talk, but Hawk was careful to avoid all contact with others who might or might not be carrying the virus already. They probably weren't. Not yet, anyway. But better safe than sorry.

They walked in silence mostly, until they came close to the woods. Then Hawk led them up a hill where they found a stream.

„I reckon it's safe to drink here", he said. „It's water doesn't come from the city, so I don't think it's infected with the second virus. Anyway, we have to drink something, or we'll die of thirst."

That was true, so they got down and quenched their thirst. The water was cool and crystal clear, and they felt better after their drink.

„We need to agree on what's next", Hawk finally said.

They were resting halfway up that hill, watching the sun going down slowly, looking at the city way beneath them with sadness. They could still see smoke where once the hotel had stood.

„I ask this again – who made you boss?" Lex answered back.

„Where would you lead us, Lex?" Hawk asked, sounding annoyed. „Go ahead, feel free! Do you know any place where we can go?"

„How about Liberty?" Hope suggested. She sounded tired and sad and hadn't said much at all during their long journey.

Immediately, Hawk and Falcon both shook their heads.

„Too many people", Hawk said.

„And too many city refugees", Falcon agreed.

„The Ecotribe, then?" Hope asked.

„Yeah, let's all eat grass and bugs and sleep on hay, shall we!" Lex interrupted, rolling his eyes. Clearly, he'd have preferred Liberty as well. After all, Ruby's Saloon had nice beds and good food.

„You can eat all that, and maybe a few worms, too." Falcon threw a handful of grass at him. „Me, I prefer some wildlife animal or some freshly captured fish. But then again, that's just me."

Lex snorted, and Hope had to hide a smile. At least now Lex kept quiet.

„Maybe", Hawk finally answered to Hope's suggestion. „But the Gaians also trade stuff. Some of them sneak around the city, trying to get news. We prefer to be on our own and do our own thing, but with those things like the Chosen and the Techno invasion and all the stuff Mega did … we need to be informed. But that way, we come in contact with city people. And city food, clothes and other supplies. I don't know how safe the Gaian camp is. Safer than Liberty, yes, but ..."

„So you're saying we should stay on our own?" Falcon asked.

„For now … maybe. Until we know what's going on. Or until we're as far away from here as possible."

„Lex?"

„I hate to agree with grasshopper over there, but I've had my share of the first virus. Don't want to catch the second one as well. We probably should get away as fast as we can. We need to find ourselves a boat. Maybe, on another coast, where people haven't heard of the danger ..."

„Maybe." Falcon looked at him. „But you know that there is no guarantee that we will ever find the others? Or Tai-san?"

He didn't say anything, which gave her the answer. Yes, he knew. And he didn't want to talk about it.

They climbed on top of the hill and followed a narrow footpath, which led them into a small wood, where Hawk found them a comfortable place for the night and also some more fresh water and some berries. That night, their dreams were haunted by their friends leaving on the boat and themselves standing at the quay, calling them, but getting no response at all.

The next few days they kept off all main roads and mainly walked through woods and fields. They found clear water they could drink, and Hawk and Falcon managed to get them food. Some wild pheasant, a hare, some fresh fish from a stream. Even without spices, it tasted delicious, since Hawk and Falcon knew how to cook. Hope went off to find berries, apples and other stuff, while Lex was responsible for the fire and the firewood.

Lex didn't talk much these days, and they left him alone most of the time. He was moody and aggressive, but he did his job with the wood.

„I hate Gel for doing this to him", Hope confided in Falcon when they went to gather berries together. „She got his hopes up for reuniting with Tai-san, and she ruined everything he had with Courage."

„I'd say the Courage thing is to be blamed on both of them", Falcon said. „They argued all day, even without Gel interfering. Too big-headed, both of them. Wouldn't have worked out anyway."

„Well, you and Hawk seem to be happy."

„Yeah, but we're not that different. If I were a cheesy little chick like Gel, I'd say we're soul mates. But Lex … well, he's an idiot."

„He's not!"

„Most of the time, he is. I can't imagine what you see in him. You two seem to get along quite well, don't you?"

„We have a history together."

Falcon raised her eyebrows, and Hope blushed, shaking her head.

„I mean, we've known each other for a long time now and both he and I went through some pretty rough times. I was there for him once, ages ago, because I felt sorry for him. And that's what started it."

„But he's such a loud-mouth with the world's greatest ego."

„Yes, on the outside he is. On the inside, he's scared. Sometimes lonely. Maybe even insecure. I don't know. He's hiding that pretty well."

„He's hiding it perfectly, because I just can't imagine that idiot being even a little insecure."

„Aren't we all hiding something? I'm scared to death of the future. I'm scared of tomorrow! But I'm not walking around shaking and in tears either."

Falcon thought about that for a moment, chewing on a berry. „I miss my sis like hell", she then admitted. „Some days are okay, I guess. But some days are horrible. I feel like I've failed her. Like I should have found her by now. And then there are those days where I imagine why I haven't found her yet. And they are the worst. Coz, you know, she can't be … she can't ..."

She bit her lips and clenched her hand into a fist, causing the berries to end up crushed.

„Oh, Falcon."

Hope tried to put a hand onto Falcon's shoulders, but Falcon got up, wiping the smashed berries onto some nearby leaves.

„We have enough berries for now, let's get back to camp", she said.

Off she went, and Hope, sensing that Falcon didn't want to talk, followed her.

Further up north, they came across a little village, where finally Hawk gave in. They needed new clothes and they needed to wash. They also needed some canisters for carrying water, some basic supplies, some plates and cutlery and cups and other stuff. Falcon and Hawk both carried big knives which could be used for all kinds of purposes and Lex owned a pocket knife as well. But that wasn't enough. They also needed some blankets for the nights as well.

They brought some food to trade, but that didn't get them much in return. So they spend two whole days in the little village. Lex, Hawk and Falcon went off with some guys, getting wood and more food supplies for the village inhabitants. Hope stayed with some of the women, helping them with cleaning and looking after their kids while they did their daily chores. Those people had been living in the little village since the beginning of the first virus. They didn't know anything of the Technos and the Chosen, let alone the second virus.

„We wouldn't go to the city anyway", one of the guys said then Hawk tried to warn him about the dangers there. „It's too far and too dangerous. We're trading with farmers and we're keeping some chickens ourselves. We're pretty much self-sufficient."

They weren't a tribe. None of them wore tribal markings, and their clothes were plain but practical. But they were friendly and helped out as much as they could.

„I feel bad, knowing we might have brought the second virus here", Hope said.

„It's been days, and none of us are showing signs", Lex replied, dropping a few pieces of wood behind one of the houses. „So we probably didn't get it."

„I hope you're right."

As soon as they had most of their supplies and some new clothes, they left the friendly village, getting further and further away from the city. With time, Lex's mood got better, although he and Hawk constantly argued about everything. Lex clearly had a problem with authority and questioned Hawk's leadership whenever he could. As for Hope, being stuck between a couple and an angry Lex, she felt pretty much lonely and kept to herself.

One week later, they reached another hilltop, and looking around they saw the ocean spread before them in all it's beauty. There were some people down at a rather sad-looking beach where people had left their rubbish lying around. And best of all, there were some boats, too.

„Beautiful", Hope said, smiling, meaning the magnificent view of the ocean.

„Wonderful", Lex grinned, now suddenly very happy, thinking of those boats they saw.

„You all really want to do this?" Hawk asked, catching the unspoken thought of Lex.

„Of course!" That was, of course, Lex.

„I think so", Hope agreed. „We don't have another goal anyway, do we?"

„Hmmh", Falcon said, and Hope and Hawk unterstood what she meant.

It took them two days to reach the beach and the small town who it belonged to. Hawk went to ask around and came back with no answer. Apparently, those boats didn't belong to anyone.

They went to have a look and to their relief, most of them where in a rather good condition. Some stuff was broken, and some of the sails had been taken away, as well as all of the fuel.

„So no motorboat for us, then", Hawk concluded. „But if we can patch up some of those sails … on that small boat over there we've found another sail hidden … if we can fix that ..."

Luckily, the townpeople left them alone. They lived from fishing and trading and although they thought it was crazy to sail off into the blue, they didn't interfere.

Falcon and Hawk got the sails done and the boat cleaned up and ready while Hope and Lex gathered some clothes, first aid stuff, food and lot's and lot's of water. All of that had it's price again but in the end, they had gathered enough to last them for at least a week or longer if they were careful. Hawk and Falcon took the boat for a spin. Everything seemed to be fine. There were oars, too, which they needed to row back to the beach. The next day, a guy from town taught them how to handle the boat as good as possible. Hopefully, that would be enough.

„I hope I don't get seasick", Hope sighed, when they were back at the beach, and Falcon was with her on that. But what chance did they have? If that virus was coming, they had to get away.

„It might follow us, you know", Falcon said, throwing stones into the water.

„Mega said it will spread through the air and the water. We don't know if that's true or not. Better not to take chances, but then … well, we can only hope", Hawk answered, putting his arm around her shoulders. „Look, I know this is hard for you … leaving Grace behind and everything."

„It's even harder to know that I might leave her for nothing. That I might die anyway, out there at sea or on some stupid island or wherever."

„At least that way, you have a chance", Hawk quietly said. „I'm sure she'd have wanted that for you."

„I should have ..."

„You're a good sister, Falcon. The best she could have had. You never once stopped looking for her."

„But I didn't find her."

„But you never gave up hope."

„And I won't start now!"

„No, you don't, and you shouldn't. But you also shouldn't place yourself in danger here. She could be anywhere. Maybe even out there."

He pointed towards the open sea, and with an angry cry, Falcon kicked an empty shell at a surprised seagull who flew right back up into the air with an angry cry as well.

„I might never find her!"

„Or maybe you will. Have you noticed our ships name?"

„Yeah. _Destiny._ That fits. But we don't know where our destiny lies."

„That's the whole point. You never know your destiny until you've reached it. Maybe your destiny will lead you back to Grace. Or Grace to you."

„Grace to me ..."

„Surely, she's looking for you as well?"

„You've asked for her. Even at that village and here in town, you've been asking around. And people remember you and your story. If Grace comes here, they'll remember and tell her."

„Maybe she'll find me. Or at least, she'll know I've never once stopped looking." She sighed. „You know, Hawk, when Mouse got lost and when we ran after Hope and Lex, I was kind of hoping the boat would leave without us. Because I couldn't bear to leave here, to leave Grace."

„Yes. I thought so."

„You did?"

„Yeah. I was hoping you'd come and talk to me about it someday. But I didn't want to pressure you into talking, so I kept quiet about it."

„I'm glad you did. I need to get those things out in my own time, I guess. I kinda told Hope, but it came up by accident. Anyway …"

„You're feeling okay with leaving now?"

„It's still hard. But I guess we have a better chance of surviving out there than here. What about you? Don't you feel sad, leaving all of this behind?"

„All of what?" Hawk answered back. „I can't go back to my Tribe, although I probably would have, if I had been alone. But other than the Gaians, what is there to miss? I left my home a very long time ago, Falcon. The memory of my parents will always be with me. But now I have you, and we might have a future somewhere out there. One where we will not die of some stupid disease. One without the Chosen, the Locos, the Technos. Actually, it's a rather nice future to look forward to, don't you think?"

„Yeah, I guess it is."

Not knowing what else to say, she placed her hand into his, enjoying the fact that he was with her, that she had someone by her side. He squeezed her hand lightly, and together they went to find Hope and Lex.

„It's our last night here", Hope said when darkness fell. It was a very dark night, with barely any stars visible and no moon at all. A weird feeling came over them.

„We should get some sleep", Hawk suggested, yawning. „Tomorrow we have to rise early."

They finished dinner, and Hope cleaned the plates. Then they retired into the old haystack where they'd been sleeping during the last few days. It was drafty and dirty in there, but all of them had slept in worse places, so they just cleaned the space around their blankets and didn't care otherwise.

It was pitch-dark when Hope woke up. And it was quiet, which was unusual. Normally, Lex was snoring, but tonight, everything was silent. She didn't like that one bit. Following her intuition, she put on her boots in the dark and sneaked outside. It was still very dark, and since she didn't had a flash-light, she stumbled all the way down to the beach. There, sitting by a glowing fire some of those townspeople had probably used for their dinner, sat Lex, staring into the darkness. When she stepped onto something, he spun around.

„It's just me", she shyly said, stopping.

„Oh. Go back to bed, Hope."

„You should, too. It's late."

„I'm thinking."

She didn't move, unsure of how to proceed. Should she just leave? Should she try to talk to him? But Lex hated to be talked to if he wasn't in the mood.

However, he turned about again, sighed and gestured to the place in the dirty sand next to him. „You won't leave anyway, will you?"

„If you don't want to talk, I'd ..."

„I know I'll never see her again, you know", he interrupted her. „Tai-san, I mean. And that's okay. She made her decision a long time ago, when she was with the Technos and didn't want to come with me. It still makes me mad, but I guess that's how things go. How it always goes for me."

„Lex -"

„I can't help thinking about them, now that we're leaving here. I'll be leaving a lot of memories."

„Well ..."

„They either die, or they'll disappear. Zandra's dead. Tai-san's vanished. Siva's dead. Courage's gone. Probably all my fault anyway."

„No, it's not! You didn't make the Eagle Mountain observatory explode. That was a accident! You didn't make Java kill Siva. That was an accident, too. Tai-san left, yes … but with whatever reasons. And Courage made her decision, too. Maybe ..."

„It wasn't meant to be?" he sneered. „Yeah, nobody's meant to be with me. I make them leave or they get killed. Guess Gel's better off on that boat. Not that I'm interested in her or anything."

„Yeah, well. At least the people you like actually like you back", Hope said, thinking of Pride with his affection of Amber, his lies to May and his new love with Salene and of Slade, who'd found a distraction in Ruby and a love worth fighting for in Ebony.

They sat in silence for a while, listening to the soft waves and the other little noises around them.

„It's like the last night of the world", Hope finally managed to say. „It's dark, it's lonely, and we don't know what tomorrow will bring."

„More death. More people leaving."

„More people who doesn't care enough. Yes."

Suddenly, he put his arm around her. „I never thanked you."

„For what?" She sounded surprised.

„For being my friend. For not dying and not disappearing."

She smiled. „I guess I have to thank you for the same thing. And for not searching for better friends."

„Yeah, right. Who would I find? Amber? Ebony?"

„Don't even go there!"

„Maybe, somewhere out there … there might be what we're looking for."

„Either way, it's a new start."

She turned around to face him, studying his features in the dark. Whatever happens, she was glad she had Lex with her. If she couldn't have a guy that loved her with her, at least she had a guy who cared. Although he didn't always show it.

„You deserve something good out there", he said, now turning to face her, too.

„So do you. I hope you'll find ..."

„... something new", he interrupted. „I'm so sick of people dying or disappearing on me. I want to start over. I hope I can."

„I hope I can, too. Either way … I hope we'll get through this. I hope everything will be fine on the boat. I hope … well, I guess if this is the last night of the world, the last night before a new beginning, then I hope that we'll make it through and ..."

He interrupted her, and the way he did it took her by surprise. But she didn't pull away. After all, it was the last night of the world. It was dark, it was lonely, it was scary. They didn't know what would happen next. But right now, they had this moment. Maybe their last moment. Maybe a brand new start. Either way, it felt good and it felt right.

The next morning, they carried their belongings on board and off they went. They had a nice wind, which made it easy to sail. Everything went smoothly, but they all knew, their problems were only just beginning. Looking back, they saw the familiar coastline. The one they had left from and the one they knew so very well. Although, those familiar one, it seemed kind of empty. Not a single person to be seen. Everything looked very quiet. Then the wind pushed them even further away, until the mainland was nearly completely vanished. The only thing that was left was the crystal clear blue water all around them.

„It's our home!"

„No. Not any more."

With that, all four of them turned their backs to the direction in which the mainland was and looked the other way. A new future was awaiting them. And they were ready.


	2. Storm

This chapter was written by my friend, here known as _sylverhawk._

Falcon felt terrible. She was seasick, as seasick as can be. She knew this was going to happen. For as long as she could remember she'd gotten seasick whenever she set foot on a boat that was any larger than a canoe or a rowboat. She just wasn't born for the sea. But what choice did she have?

Dawn was breaking on the fourth day of their voyage, the sun was slowly rising on the horizon while millions of stars were still twinkling way up over their heads. Falcon looked around. The scenery was almost peaceful, although slightly monotonous. They were too far off shore for any seagulls to be around, so all there was to hear was the gentle splashing of the waves against the side of the boat. In the bow of the boat there was Lex, snug as a bug wrapped into a blanket, fast asleep and snoring as usual. Cuddled up by his side in another blanket was Hope, as well sleeping like a log. Falcon couldn't help but smile. She kinda envied the two of them for being able to sleep under these circumstances and for even managing to look peaceful doing it. Falcon herself couldn't sleep, as usual. She had been dozing a little every now and then, but that was about it. Most of the night she had just been counting stars in the otherwise pitch black night sky. Now, as another day was about to begin, she stretched her legs a little, careful not to move too much so as not to rock the boat too much and wake up the others, especially Hawk, who had his arm put around her shoulders so she could rest comfortably leaning against him. But, as it turned out, he was already awake.

"Good morning", he said lowly when she started to move.

"Good morning", she replied, turning her head to face him. Her eyes met his, and she could see he was worried.

"How do you feel?", he asked, and Falcon knew exactly what he meant. Her face was as pale as the sails of their boat, and the dark circles under her eyes seemed to get larger with every passing day. Never before had Hawk seen her like that.

"I'll get by...", she said, smiling wryly, and shrugged. „Don't worry about me, Hawk. I'm just seasick. You'll see, I'll be back to my old self in no time once we get there..."

_Wherever there is_, she thought, but didn't say the words. She didn't have to, anyway. None of them knew where they were going to end up. They had left the coast and sailed off into the blue, without a map or even a compass. The townspeople who had helped them to get the boat ready - completely unaware of the threat the second virus might mean to them - had called them crazy for sailing off like that, and for all Falcon knew they were probably right. They didn't know where they were and they didn't know where they'd end up. All they could tell for sure was that they were still sailing westward, away from the land that had once been their home. So far, so good.

Somewhat around an hour later the sun had risen, and Hope was just about to do the same. Lex was still asleep, so Hope carefully wound herself out of her blanket.

„Good morning", she said when she saw that Hawk and Falcon were already awake.

„Good morning yourself", Hawk replied. „Did you sleep well?"

„Yeah, I did... I guess.", Hope nodded, carefully folding her blanket. „I think I'm getting used to sleeping on hard wood floor."

„Not to mention sleeping aside a human sawmill...", Falcon added, pointing to Lex. „Really, if I didn't know better I'd be worried he'd saw the whole boat in two!"

"I've heard that", Lex mumbled, obviously waking up. He opened his eyes and glanced at Falcon. Human sawmill, very funny. Did she always have to exaggerate, and on his expense? Lex pushed his blanket back and jauntily sat up. The whole boat started rocking, and out of reflex Falcon grabbed the boat's railing and closed her eyes.

"Lex… Careful, would ya?", she gasped out, trying to keep the nausea down until the boat ceased to rock and resumed gently swaying from one side to another. Only then would she open her eyes again, glaring at Lex. But Lex, being his usual self, looked back at her as if he was the innocence in person.

"What? I just got up, didn't I? I mean, I could indeed stay flat on my back for the rest of the journey, but you wouldn't like that either, would ya?"

Falcon chose not to reply to that and just sighed, rolling her eyes. Hawk didn't say anything either, he just shook his head. Hope quietly pitied Falcon. She didn't feel too good out here on the open sea – or too safe, for that matter – but her seasickness was nothing compared to Falcon's.

"So… what's for breakfast?"

None of them was surprised to hear Lex ask this question.

"Same thing as usual…", Hope replied, digging in one of the bags that contained their food supplies. "You have a choice of bread, bread, and… well, bread. Oh, and some fruit, if you care for any."

She didn't really expect Lex to care for any of the apples and pears they had traded with the farm people, but she mentioned it anyway.

"Nah, thanks, I think I'll pass on those apples…", Lex replied, grabbing a slice of bread out of the back. "That's more for our dear grasshopper here!", he added with a grin when Hope handed the bag over to Hawk and Falcon after taking a slice of bread out herself.

"Thanks Lex. Too nice of you", Hawk said and grabbed one of the pears Lex had disdained. "You know, fruit are not only healthy, they're actually pretty good for the brain, too."

While Hawk passed the food bag on to Falcon, Hope couldn't help but grin, but quickly hid behind her slice of bread. She knew, Lex hated it when she thought Hawk's jokes were funny, especially the ones he made on Lex' expense. So she wouldn't want him to see her grin.

"Is that so, huh?", Lex snapped back. "Then go ahead, keep eating them, if you need them. I don't!"

Falcon had a pointy remark ready, but refrained from letting it out. Instead she handed the bag back over to Hope – without taking something out. Hawk raised an eyebrow.

"You don't want to eat anything?", he asked.

Falcon shook her head and shrugged, smiling wryly. "No… I'm not hungry. And besides, it's no good to eat if I don't know whether or not I can keep it in."

"She's got a point there!", Lex nodded, munching away on his bread.

"Lex, shut up!" Hawk was getting slightly angry. He was willing to take a whole lot, but Lex seemed to have made a habit of eventually pissing everybody off with his attitude, and now he was very close to reaching that point. Falcon put her hand on his arm before he could say any more.

"Leave him be, Hawk", she said. "As much as I hate to say this, but for once – and Lex, you might wanna mark the day – I have to agree with Lex. It would be a waste of supplies if I kept eating only to eventually throw it all up again. I've never had too much of an appetite when I was seasick, so it's okay. I'll get by."

"That's what you always say", Hope remarked. "But you haven't eaten anything since at least yesterday morning, and I didn't see you drink a whole lot either!"

_A good observer_, Falcon thought. She kinda liked that about Hope. Although sometimes being a little too quiet, Hope always had an eye out for what happened around her, and she cared about the people around her.

"Waste of supplies or not, if you don't eat and drink, you'll only get weaker!", she continued, trying to persuade Falcon to at least have some bread and water. "And you know best that that won't help us either."

Saying that, she grabbed a small piece of bread out of the bag and handed it to Falcon, and the look in her eyes made it clear that she wouldn't accept refusal. But Falcon was still reluctant.

"I really don't…", she tried.

"Yes, you do!", Hope cut her off. "Eat this, or I'll have Hawk feed you like a little bird!"

Now it was Falcon who couldn't help but smirk when Hawk took the piece of bread from Hope and held it ready to feed her.

"You gonna do it yourself or do I have to?", he asked, smiling almost shyly, but still looking worried at the same time.

"Alright, alright…", Falcon finally gave in and took the bread from Hawk. "I'll eat… you're happy now?"

She looked at the others and took a bite off the bread, hoping it would stay where it was supposed to be. Hawk put his arm around her shoulders and she leaned against him.

"This is not about us being happy, Falcon", Hope pointed out. "We just mean well, you know… It's about you staying on your feet, staying healthy."

"Yeah, I know."

She knew Hope was right, she knew they all were right. She had to eat and drink, if she wanted to or not. And this boat was too small a place to hide the fact she wasn't feeling well.

"And who knows what might happen out here, I mean…" Hope shrugged. "You never know, right? So we better all be ready and stay strong. Just in case."

Hope certainly had a point there, they all agreed without saying a word. Until now, their voyage was more or less pleasant and uneventful, the weather was good and the wind was, too. But all four of them were all but experienced seafarers, and none of them wanted to even imagine what might be happening in case a storm was brewing. The boat capsizing and they all drowning was definitely not what they had in mind. Even Lex, although he would rather die than admit it, was afraid of a storm. But as usual, he tried to play it all down.

"Oh come on, you sound like we're doomed here!", he said, giving Hope a poke in the ribs. "You really think anything's gonna happen to us? Not while I'm around, babe!"

"You can't control the weather, Lex", Hope said, poking back. "You probably wish, but you can't. Besides, you wouldn't want to do some sun dance here on this boat, would you?"

"A sun dance?" Lex raised an eyebrow and wrinkled his nose. "Not for the life of me would I do some stupid thing like that! That's for… I don't know, for Eco's!"

"Why am I not surprised you came up with that?", Hawk grumbled. "Just goes to show how little you know about things… We don't do sun dances, or rain dances, for that matter. Never have, never will. You can't control weather, you can't control nature. I wish you'd finally start learning about things before you comment on them!"

"Guys, please…", Falcon sighed. "Haven't we gone over that often enough?"

"She's right", Hope nodded. "We're in this together, so can't you at least try to see eye to eye until we get there? Please?"

"Mmhm, I guess we should…", Hawk agreed. "Arguing doesn't make any sense around here."

Once again, Falcon sighed and leaned back, closing her eyes.

"Gosh, I wish I was blind…", she muttered.

"Why would you say that?" Hope was surprised and puzzled. Blind? How on earth could somebody prefer to be blind? Falcon just grinned.

"Blind people can't get seasick", she explained. "I don't exactly know why, but I think it has something to do with them not being able to focus on a fixed point on the horizon, and therefore they don't notice the swaying and rocking of a boat on the waves and don't get seasick. At least that's how I think it works, I'm not sure anymore, it's been ages since I read about that."

"Maybe it helps if you don't look at the horizon?", Hope suggested. "I mean, if you can't focus on a fixed point, maybe at least you'll feel a little better?"

"Yeah well… I guess it can't hurt to try…"

Falcon leaned further back into the boat's stern and stared into the bright blue sky. To her surprise, it really had a quite calming effect, and she just kept staring at the endless blue for hours and hours. _A strange feeling_, she thought. _Trance? Maybe._ But at least calming. She didn't even notice how time flew by, until something literally clouded her view.

"Clouds…", she mumbled without moving an inch.

"Great!", groaned Lex, who just had indulged in a nice sun bath of his own, a sun bath that was now disturbed by the disappearing of the most basic ingredient – the sun.

"Looks like rain…", Falcon added, still not moving but just staring into the sky.

"And it seems there's more where those came from." Hawk pointed in the direction they were sailing, where the horizon was full of dark grey clouds, so much that the thin line separating the sea from the sky wasn't recognizable anymore. "We're headed straight for a storm."

"Great!", Lex repeated, angrily this time. He hated it when things didn't go according to his plan. And sailing through a storm definitely was not his plan!

"Can't we go around it somehow?", Hope wanted to know. She wasn't too keen on trying to make a way through a storm front, either. The wind had already picked up and tousled her hair as she gazed at the storm clouds billowing in the distance, just as if she was trying to stare the storm down and keep the clouds at bay. "I mean, we don't have a fixed course and that storm front can't be going on forever!"

"Yeah, let's try that." Hawk nodded and took the rudder, steering the boat a little further southward. "Maybe we're lucky…"

But they weren't. The wind was still picking up, and not too much later the first small raindrops hit the boat. Just a few, at first, but it wasn't long before the rain picked up, too. Very soon heavy rain poured down on the boat, its four passengers and all their luggage. The sky grew darker and darker, and with the strong wind came the waves.

"Try and keep our supplies dry!", Hawk commanded while still trying to keep the boad on a steady course. He almost had to yell to make himself heard against the storm and the splashing of the waves. "Tie everything together and secure it somewhere!"

"What do you think I'm trying here, grasshopper?", Lex blared back. "It's not as easy as it seems! Aaaargh!" A wave hit the boat full starboard and sent a cold, salty splash over the railings and into the boat, hitting Lex in the back. "If it goes on like that we're going to drown in this goddamn swimming bathtub here!"

Already soaking wet from the rain and the waves, Lex tried to find something to scoop the intruding water back out of the boat, but that wasn't easy either. He finally tried it with his bare hands, supported by Hope, who wished she had more than just two arms and hands. Securing their stuff, trying to keep the water out of the boat, and all while the boat tumbled up and down on the waves like a rollercoaster.

"We're not going to drown, Lex! We're not going to drown!", Hope kept saying as if to encourage herself, swabbing wet strands of hair out of her face while she continued to secure their supplies.

"I know! I know!", Lex yelled. He had a quick look around and saw Falcon, lying flat on her side, her back turned towards the others, pressed against the boats railings, not moving. He gave her a kick. "Hey! Get up, will ya! We could use a little help here!"

But Falcon still clung to the boat's side, her eyes jammed shut, not moving at all. This tidal rollercoaster finally had gotten the best of her, and for a moment there she just wished she was dead. She was dizzy, she was sick and she felt as though all the world was spinning in circles around her. She knew that once she opened her eyes again she was very likely to revisit her scarce breakfast.

"Leave her! Don't you see she can't?", Hawk shouted out to Lex. But Lex wasn't willing to leave it at that. They needed every hand they could get, and as far as he was concerned, Falcon had two pretty healthy hands.

"I don't give a damn, grasshopper!", Lex bawled. "We need her here, for crying out loud! Hope and I sure ain't gonna do all the work ourselves! You hear me? Get the hell up!"

Although the boat was rocking so violently he could hardly keep his stand, Lex managed to once again kick Falcon in the ribs. It took her a tremendous amount of willpower, but this time she turned around and opened her eyes, staring at Lex towering above her. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face had turned from pale to a greenish grey.

"Stop kicking me, will ya?", she croaked, working hard to keep her breakfast down where it belonged. As she sat up, she had to close her eyes again for a moment, as her stomach was going on the same rollercoaster ride the boat was on. Thunder rolled in, and in the distance the first flashes of lightning lit up the sky. This was hell. Just colder and much wetter.

"We have to take down the sails", Hawk yelled. "Otherwise the storm is going to rip them to pieces!"

Hope had grabbed the mast to help her keep her stand and looked up at the sails. Take them down? But how? When she saw that Falcon was struggling to get on her feet, she extended a hand to her.

"Come on, Falcon! Take my hand!"

Thankfully, Falcon grabbed Hope's hand and Hope pulled her up with all her might until they both clung to the mast.

"We gotta get up there and-"

Falcon couldn't finish her sentence as nausea got the best of her. As quick as she could she threw herself to the side of the boat and barfed right over the railings into the open sea. She shivered, her throat was sore like sandpaper, tears filled her eyes. She just hoped all this torture was worth it. Finally, she snatched herself back up to climb up the mast and loosen the main sail.

"Lex, give me a hand here!"

She signed for Lex to give her a lift up the mast so she could reach the top of the sail. No easy task, but it had to be done. Standing on Lex' shoulders she tried to loosen the ties that held the sail in place with one hand, while trying to keep herself in place with the other hand. Her fingers were stiff and numb, the mast and sail were wet and slippery.

_One false move_, she thought, _and that's it. Man over board. And no chance of getting back in, not with these waves._

"Hurry up there, you're getting heavy!", she heard Lex's voice from beneath.

And so she did. As fast as she somehow could, Falcon untied the knots and lowered the sail to Hope, who was standing on the other side of the mast, ready to take the sail and secure it along with the supplies somewhere down in the belly of the boat. Finally, all knots were untied and the sail was down, and Falcon slid down the mast, landing on her butt, eyes closed and out of breath. This was worse than hell.

"Let's try and use the sails to wrap our stuff up safely!", Lex suggested, and so they did.

The storm still raged heavily and threw rain and waves at the small boat and the people inside it. They winced when lightning bolted right over their heads, followed by a deafening thunder. It sounded like the whole sky was exploding right above them. The torrential deluge that continued to mercilessly pour down on them had by now filled the boat up to their ankles with water. No longer were they trying to keep themselves or their stuff dry; that was useless, they were completely drenched already. All they could keep doing now was trying to secure their stuff so it wouldn't get swept out of the boat by the waves that seemed to get larger and larger, and albeit a Sisyphean task they continued to scoop the water out of their boat.

The next wave seemed to be the tallest that had hit the boat so far, and once it had reached the wave's crest it felt like a free fall into the next trough. All four of them squealed in horror and grabbed hold of whatever was within their reach as the boat plunged into what looked like a dark abyss. When it reached the trough, it almost capsized. Once again Falcon hung over the boats railings, gagging and gulping, while Lex was ranting and raving about their situation.

"I told you! We should've gone to Liberty! Now look what this got us into! This is all your fault, grasshopper!"

"Good grief, Lex! Would you finally shut it?" Hawk glared angrily at Lex. He'd had to let go of the rudder a while ago and was clinging to the boats railings with both hands. "If you'd gone to Liberty you'd be dead by now!"

"Yeah well, I'd have rather died on dry ground than in this… pathetic bathtub!"

"Stop it, both of you!" Hope's voice was shrill as she tried to drown out the storm. "I don't want to die at all!"

The pleading, scared look in her eyes finally made Lex quiet down. He put one arm around her shoulders, pulled her close and hugged her.

"Me neither…", he confessed quietly, so that only Hope could hear it. Then he kept quiet, and so did Hope, holding on to him as fast as she could.

At the other end of the boat, Falcon had curled up into a small package of drenched camouflage clothing, lying in the cold, salty water that still splashed around her like she was the olive topping off a martini. She just barely managed to hold her head high enough so she didn't drown, but that was it, that was already using up what little was left of her strength by now. She was still sick, sicker than ever, she was freezing and her last three attempts of feeding the fish resulted not only in her throat being sore from gastric acid, but also in her stomach being completely empty like a dry dock. She just wanted it to be over, one way or another. She felt a hand reaching out for her, carefully untangling her and pulling her close. It was Hawk, and she sank into his arms like a ragdoll, gazing up at him with empty eyes. He held her close, trying to warm her somehow, as the boat continued its ride on the tidal rollercoaster, by now surrounded by pitch black darkness.

All of a sudden, a shockwave went through the small boat, its wooden planks screached and gnarled, and finally it capsized. All four of them were thrown out of the boat, but it wasn't water they fell into. It was sand.

They had landed. Somewhere…


	3. Stranded

_Hope, Moana and Falcon are our characters, and those and only those, belong to us!_

Sand. There was sand everywhere. Literally everywhere. Hope's fingers were practically buried in it. She had sand on her face, her clothes, _under_ her clothes, in her shoes, her hair, even her mouth. The feeling was just utterly disgusting.

_ What happened?_ she silently asked herself, slowly lifting herself up while spitting out some sand. She felt weak and dizzy, hungry and thirsty. And for a moment, she had absolutely no idea where she was and how she got there.

Looking up, there was a rather greyish sky above her, and lot's and lot's of sand all around her. There was the ocean in front of her, still restless and unruly, and a cool breeze blew her tangled sandy hair into her face. She pushed it back impatiently, not bothering trying to untangle it. Suddenly, the images of … well, probably yesterday … came floating back to her.

The sky, suddenly so dark, the pouring rain, the storm, the enormous waves … it seemed like a bad dream, a horrifying nightmare. Never in her life she'd experienced something so terrifying. Right there and then, after the boat had capsized, she'd been so sure they'd all die, drown helplessly somewhere out in the ocean, in the darkness, with only the wind to hear their cries for help and with absolutely nothing solid to hold onto. She remembered screaming, panicking, fighting the masses of cold water, but then, suddenly, there was no water. There was sand. Wet sand, but still sand.

_A beach_, she thought, while in her head, new pictures showed, but these were kind of fuzzy. She remembered the sand, and the darkness all around, the wind tearing at her hair and clothes. She also remembered feeling dizzy and disorientated. She could hear herself calling for her friends, but through the noise of the storm and the crashing waves, she couldn't even hear her own voice. She recollected a memory of herself stumbling forward, getting hit by a wave again, falling down once more. Those waves had probably hit her even more than once, but she couldn't recall any more details. She'd been trying to get away from the water, losing her friends somewhere in the darkness and the noise …

_My friends! _Yes, her friends – Lex, Falcon, Hawk. Where were they?

She'd looked up in the sky and down at the unruly waters of the ocean before, feeling confused. Now, she took it all in, mainly the beach, and she felt relieved when she saw three other bodies lying in the sand, not moving at all. But relief suddenly turned into panic, and getting up, she ignored the dizziness and stumbled forward, reaching Lex first, dropping on her knees beside him.

"Lex? Lex, can you hear me?"

There was no answer, but there was breathing. His body felt damp and dirty, and he was sleeping, just like she had been.

Relieved, she looked over at Hawk and Falcon, who both were lying a bit further away. At the same time, Hawk slowly moved, opening his eyes, lifting his head, blinking. Suddenly, Hope felt like crying again. Not out of fear this time, but out of relief. They were all safe. And they still were together. That was good.

Hawk seemed to need a moment to figure things out as well. Then he noticed Hope sitting next to Lex and smiled.

"Morning", he slowly said. "If it is morning."

"It must be morning", she said, looking back up at the sky. There was barely any sun out, and the sky was gray and cloudy. It wasn't very warm, either.

Now checking up on Falcon as Hope had done with Lex, Hawk smiled at Hope.

"Are you okay?"

"I have been better." She shrugged. "But I'm alive, and that's what counts. I'm just very thirsty, hungry and dirty."

Her voice sounded scratchy, but so did his. They probably all needed a lot of water, some food, a bath and a good night's sleep somewhere where it was warm and neither cold, nor windy or wet. But water was probably the most important thing right now.

"We're all safe", Hawk repeated, his strong hands still resting on Falcon's arms. "You know, for a moment, out there, in the storm, I wasn't so sure we'd ..."

"Make it?"

That was Falcon's also scratchy voice, and slowly the girl sat up, still looking as white as a sheet. None of them looked too good. Even Hawk looked pretty pale. But Falcon certainly looked worse than the rest of them.

"But we did make it", Hawk said, holding her close. "We're here, all four of us. We made it through that horrible storm."

"The four of us, and our boat. Or what's left of it, anyway", Falcon stated in a hollow voice.

Slowly, the three of them turned to look further down the beach. There were some craggy rocks near the beach, and after the boat had capsized, apparently the waves had taken a hold of it, crashing it against the rocks violently, probably more than once. Further down the beach, part of their boat had been washed ashore, wet, broken, useless. Somewhere out there, or maybe even further along the beach, there was probably the rest of it.

"We're lucky", Hawk broke the silence that had followed Falcon's words. "We're very lucky we weren't in the boat while it was being smashed against those rocks."

"But we've lost the boat", Hope reminded him in a scared voice.

"I don't give a damn about the boat!" Falcon said, glaring at the pieces of wood that were left of their cockleshell. "I don't ever, ever, ever want to go through this again! I don't care what this place is, but nothing, absolutely nothing will get me on a boat and out there ever again!"

She sounded so pissed and so fierce, and her loud voice finally awoke Lex, who didn't seem to be the least bit disorientated. Glaring at his friends and then at the wrecked boat down near the ocean, he rolled his eyes.

"Shit. I've told you all before, this idea was doomed right from the start! The whole thing sucked, and it still does! And now we're stranded god-knows-where, with absolutely nothing but the dirty, wet and ragged clothes we've got on, and ..."

"Geez, Lex!" Falcon groaned. "Shut up!"

"This isn't helping, Lex", Hope sighed.

"Leave it, Lex", Hawk suggested. "Instead of complaining without knowing anything, we could start to look around, trying to find out where we are, if anything from our stuff did wash up ashore as well ..."

"And most important, we need to find drinkable water!" Falcon reminded.

Lex grumbled, but at least he stopped complaining. Instead, he got on his feet, ignoring Hope, who was still sitting next to him. Purposefully, he made his way down to the water, where the waves had washed ashore half of the boat. Seeing that, Hope got up as well, feeling lightheaded because she was so hungry. Falcon and Hawk both followed her example, and they followed Lex down the beach together.

"And here we go – we've got a paddle!" Lex shouted, grabbing something from the ground and holding it up. Indeed, it was one of the boat's paddles. And pretty much useless now that there wasn't a boat to use it with anymore.

"How about a warm blanket? Or one of our plastic bottles with water?" Hope asked, reaching Lex and the paddle at the same time Falcon and Hawk did.

"So far no luck."

And most likely, there wouldn't be any luck. Blankets, drenched in water, bottles, filled up with water … they probably had sunk.

"There's an awful lot of wooden pieces", Falcon said, wandering along, keeping her eyes on the ground. "And seaweeds, shells, that kind of stuff. Look at all that driftwood. That was quite a storm."

There were seagulls now perching on the craggy rocks where there boat must have met it's end. The waves still kept coming towards the beach, but with a lot less noise and force and at a much smaller scale.

"I can't believe we've lost everything", Hope said, biting her dry lips.

"We didn't lose everything", Hawk replied, sounding firm. "We're still alive. The deadly virus didn't get us. We have to be thankful for that."

"It's a fresh start now here", Falcon nodded, her pale face surrounded by her dirty dark hair, which made her look even paler. "I mean, wherever 'here' is ..."

"An island, maybe", Hope suggested, trying to ran her fingers through her messy hair but failing miserably.

"Might be the South Island", Hawk said. "It's pretty likely we've ended up there. Maybe once we meet someone, we can make sure."

"Yeah, meeting someone." Lex rolled his eyes at this, tossing the paddle away angrily. "Maybe for a lunchdate, grasshopper? Or don't you Eco's do lunchdates? Maybe meeting someone for some kind of hippie-gathering. Or ..."

The other three groaned in unison.

"Is this going somewhere, Lex?" Falcon asked, finding herself a seat on a pile of wood.

"Yes, it is!" he shouted. "Do you know these people here? For all we know, they could be Chosen or Technos or some other crazy, powerhungry Tribe! In this world, you don't just go out and hope to meet someone! You could end up captured or worse!"

Hawk rolled his eyes, too. "I wasn't thinking of going off and asking the next stranger I come across to be my new best mate, Lex. But finding someone to get some information would probably a good thing right now. There's nothing left for us to do here. We have to go somewhere, and like it or not, we have absolutely no idea where to go. Going somewhere without knowing what's around the corner might get us in trouble as well as finding someone to help us."

"Well, there isn't anyone here, and if there were, I wouldn't be so quick to trust them, anyway", Lex told them in his usual aggressive tone.

"Sometimes you have to trust people, Lex, simply because you've got no other choice", Hawk replied, staying calm as he always did. "And who knows, they might surprise you."

"Well, and I'm telling you again, grasshopper, there is no one here to ask!" Lex shot back in his god-awful tone of voice.

"I beg to differ", Falcon interjected.

"What?"

Irritated, Lex turned to look at her. Both Falcon and Hope were now looking in the other direction, away from the ocean they'd learned to fear. In this direction, there was more sandy beach, but also tall trees in the distance; a dark wood that didn't look too inviting.

"What?" Lex repeated, but then he saw what the two girls already had noticed.

There was a rather small and dainty girl with a darker skin tone standing there, overlooking the beach. Thick, black curls fell over her shoulders, and although she didn't wear any makeup at all, there was some kind of a pattern right above her eye. Other than the citykids back home the girl didn't wear bright and colorful clothing. She wore cream-colored, light trousers and a simple gray T-Shirt. She just stood there, watching them out of her dark brown eyes.

"And who do you think you are?" Lex snapped at her before the others could prevent it.

"Shut up!" Falcon hissed angrily. But that was just so Lex. Being washed ashore someone else's beach and asking them who they were in his most aggressive voice. Well, that was one way of making friends, and certainly not a way that would prove to be very successful.

"I'm just asking!" he defended himself.

"And you're not asking very politely", the girl said in a calm voice.

"I'm sorry", Hope quickly said. "He's just … we're just … well, we kind of stranded here and we've lost everything ..."

"Yes, tell her that!" Lex hissed behind her. "Now she knows we're completely defenseless and she'll run off, getting her tribe and they'll capture us!"

"It was a pretty bad storm yesterday", the girl agreed, not coming any closer. She looked over at the paddle thrown in the sand by Lex before. "You all went out in a boat yesterday?"

"Not yesterday", Hawk answered before Lex could say anything. "We've been quite a while on that boat. We're from the North Island."

The girl seemed surprised. "Now that's quite a journey", she stated. "Why did you leave?"

"Well, actually, there was ...", Hope began, but Lex interrupted her.

"Bad stuff has been happening", he cut it short. "So we went away on a boat which wasn't the best of ideas – which I told them a dozen times at least, but no, nobody listens to good old Lex, so now we've ended up here on this bloody beach, and it's probably good old Lex again who has to save the day! It's …"

"Just shut it, or good old Lex is going to take a bath!" Falcon growled. "Or, preferably, end up like the boat did – smashed against those rocks!"

There was a smile on the girl's face, but she still didn't come closer.

"I see", she said. "Well, you're lucky. I mean, really. You could have ..."

"We know", Hawk quickly said. "And even if Lex is complaining, he's thankful to be alive, and so are all of us. Is this the South Island? I've lost all sense of orientation while being out there at sea, with nothing but the sky above us and the ocean surrounding us. But thinking geographically, the South Island would be my first guess."

"And the right guess", the girl said. "I've heard some of the stuff that has been going on near the coast on the North Island. Those crazy tribes and everything. I know people who had contact with them, and they didn't like it very much. Probably a good thing the four of you got away."

"Yeah, but really, it was nothing we couldn't handle", Lex immediately responded, now obviously trying to impress the girl. "What we were running from wasn't something anyone could fight. It's ..."

Again, Falcon interrupted him.

"I'm sorry, ahem ..."

She paused, and the girl smiled at her, ignoring Lex as well.

"It's Moana", she introduced herself.

"That's a beautiful ..." _Name_, Hope tried to say, but she got interrupted by Falcon as well. But unlike Lex – who looked pissed again – she didn't mind.

"Moana", Falcon started again. "Like we said, we've lost everything, or so it seems. And I think what we need now most is drinkable water. There wouldn't be any stream or something like that around here, would there?"

"Yeah, ask her to lead us there, so we can follow her straight into some kind of trap", Lex muttered, kicking the sand away with his foot.

Ignoring Lex, Moana nodded. "Actually, there is a river that runs through this wood", she said. "It's probably the closest place to get water from this point. I can show you."

Lex groaned, but the other three nodded. The though of something to drink was just heavenly. Maybe they could clean themselves up a bit as well. They all looked like something the cat might have brought in.

"That would be great, Moana", Falcon said, smiling. She was very, very thirsty, but not even that hungry. Sure, she felt weak and lightheaded from the lack of food, but those were desperate times, and ever since the virus had started they'd learned to get along without that much food. It was water that was precious.

"Follow me, then", Moana said.

"Are you kidding me?" Lex hissed to them as soon as Moana's back was turned. "You cannot actually want to follow that little witch! She's going to lead us straight into a trap!"

"Lex!" Falcon said between gritted teeth. "We. Need. Water. It's as simple as that. If we go off alone, we could walk into an ambush as well. Maybe they're people out there hiding, trying to attack strangers. Maybe not. We don't know, and frankly, I'm to thirsty to care."

"What do you think we should do, sit here and wait around because going somewhere or trusting someone could mean bad news?" Hawk asked, shaking his head.

"Yeah, of course, you two agree, like you always do!" he spat at them, then turning around to face Hope. "Come on, Hope. I'm sure you don't want to become that girl's tribe's slave, do you?"

"I don't want to become anyone's slave, Lex", Hope replied. "But I want something to drink. Hawk and Falcon are right. We're on new territory here, and we need to trust and take risks to get something going. I mean, she seems nice, and I want to trust her, but I don't – yet. And I'm sure Hawk and Falcon don't trust her either. But water is more important than safety right now. That's what I'm thinking."

"That's what we're all thinking", Hawk agreed. "Besides, is good old Lex afraid of some little girl?"

That, of course, got Lex going. Glaring at Hawk, he marched forward, following right behind the girl and turning his back on his friends. Hawk, Falcon and Hope shared an amused grin. Yep. Good old Lex!

Moana led them over to the wood, and stepping between those tall trees, it was like entering a totally different world. Barely any light managed to get in between those trees, so it was rather dark, cool and damp in here. A muddy path, covered in leaves and small branches – leftovers from yesterday's storm, no doubt – led somewhere further into the wood, but Moana ignored the path. Instead, she seemed to follow her own invisible path, walking along the trees, over the muddy ground, even climbing over a tree stump once.

"See!" Lex muttered, trying to keep up with her. "She's already trying to confuse us!"

The girl was walking gracefully, having no trouble to quickly climb over tree stumps or rocks, and she obviously knew where she was going. She didn't pause for one second but at least slowed down, so they could follow her.

"I'm not trying anything", she replied to Lex' rude statement. "I'm just showing you the way to the river."

"And we're thankful for that", Hawk quickly assured her. "Even Lex is. He's just being, well ..."

"He's being Lex", Hope sighed.

"He's being a moron and a jackass, as usual", Falcon muttered.

"I see", the girl replied. She sounded amused, and although they couldn't see it, they were sure she smiled.

She led them further into the woods, and Hope wrapped her arms around her upper body. Her clothes and hair were still damp, and in here it was pretty chilly as well. They'd probably all end up sick. But better having a cold than coming down with a deadly virus.

"The river's not far from here", Moana told them. "There's a little village, but you've got to go in the other direction to get there. There's an allotment somewhere as well, but I don't know about it's condition. Further away from there, all across the fields and meadows, there's a city as well. Not a nice place, though. We prefer staying out here."

"So, does your tribe live in the woods?" Hope asked, trying to strike up a conversation with the girl while at the same time fishing for information.

"Not in the woods. But further along the beach." She didn't give any more information than that, and Hope realized that as helpful and friendly she'd proven to be, she was also cautious.

"Does your tribe have a name?" Hawk asked.

Moana hesitated but then apparently decided that telling the name wouldn't place her people in danger.

"We're called the Whalers", she answered.

"Oh, great, so you're, like, what, friends with the Dolphins?"

Of course that came from Lex, and immediately, Hawk and the two girls rolled their eyes. But the girl grinned.

"No", she replied. "But we do like the Starfish, the Urchins and the Seahorses."

"Don't forget the Sharks", Lex snapped gloomily, obviously thinking Moana was making fun of him rather than finding her reply funny.

Suddenly, the girl stopped and her pretty face darkened. She wasn't smiling anymore.

"No", she said, her voice sounding almost frosty. "We do not like the Sharks. Never have, never will."

"Moana -"

"Look, I have to go." She was still nice, but now it seemed rather polite than really friendly. And with taking a few steps backwards, she put some distance between herself and the others. "If you walk further along those trees, you'll find the stream. You can also follow the noise if you're quiet."

"Lex was just being Lex", Falcon sighed, looking at Moana apologetically. "He didn't mean to upset you."

"Maybe, maybe not. I can't stay here." Ignoring Lex, she walked past them, still keeping her distance. "But if your story is true, then I would advise you not to go anywhere near the city. And to stay away from the Sharks."

"There really is a tribe called Sharks?" Lex asked, now sounding a bit dumbfounded.

"Apparently. And you've just mentioned them, idiot!"

"I also mentioned the Dolphins!" he shot back.

"Well, maybe there _are_ a bunch of people calling themselves Dolphins!" Falcon hissed. "You're a stranger here, you don't know anything, so just keep your stupid mouth shut!"

Their fight didn't seem to reassure Moana one bit. Or maybe she was just too far away already to actually understand what was spoken. Looking at her, Hope saw her standing next to a tall oak tree, and then, seemingly from one moment to the other, the girl was gone.

_Great_, she thought, kicking a bunch of leaves out of the way. _Just great._

And in the silence that followed Moana's departure, they now could hear the noise of water, the welcoming sound of a river not very far away.

"Finally. I'm dying of thirst!" Lex loudly stated.

He turned around and walked along the trees, just as Moana had suggested, heading for the river. The three very dark glances of his friends followed him.


	4. Hungry

This chapter was written by my friend, here known as _sylverhawk_.

"Would you believe this?" Falcon shook her head in disbelief as they followed Lex to the river. "This time he must've set a new world record in pissing off people he just met!"

"Yeah, looks just like it…" Hope nodded. Although she'd known Lex for many years now, every once in a while he still surprised her, and not necessarily in a positive way. And this had been one of those times. As far as Hope was concerned, it would've been naïve to trust Moana right from the start, she was fully aware of that. But barking at somebody offering help right after arriving in an unfamiliar place certainly didn't help in boosting their image.

Lex heard the girl talk behind him, but chose to ignore them. If they didn't see things the way he did, fine, their bad. He had his reasons, based on experience, and he survived on his experience. You just can't make friends with everyone.

Somewhat about only a minute later, they reached what they were headed for. A river, roughly 10 feet wide, banked by small boulders and mossy ground. Crystal clear water rippled and burbled through the forest, and for the four of them this sight was heaven. Quickly, they kneeled side by side at the edge of the river, scooping up the cool water with their bare hands and greedily quenching their thirst. Finally, once their thirst was quenched, they washed some of the sand off their hands and faces.

"I could use a bath… a hot bath, that is!", stated Hope. Once again she tried to get rid of some of the sand that had gathered beneath her clothes. It was getting itchy and added to the still damp clothes she wore, it was highly uncomfortable, not to mention chilly.

"Same here…", Falcon mumbled, trying to untangle her hair, picking small strands of seaweed out of it and flipping them in the river. She too could feel sand pretty much everywhere underneath her clothes, and her boots seemed to be full of sand and water, too. She sat down, untied the laces and took off her boots, slapping them against each other to loosen the sticky sand inside. Of all things, nothing was worse than marching along with sore feet, chafed by sand in ones boots.

"Not to mention a clean set of clothes!", Lex added, looking down at himself in utter disgust. His shirt's seams were ripped, his pants had a cut, and all in all he was pretty ruffled.

"We all could use that", Hawk stated matter-of-factly. He didn't feel too comfortable in his salty, sandy and damp clothes, and this was clearly visible by the look on his face.

"Hear hear!" Lex grinned. "I never thought Eco's ever felt dirty. I mean, don't you guys always look like the cat had just dragged you in?"

He laughed at his own joke, but he was the only one to do so.

"Very funny, Lex." Hawk kept his cool, as usual. If he was insulted by Lex's remark, he just didn't show it. He didn't flinch at all, unlike Falcon, who looked like she was ready to smack Lex into the ground. Hawk saw it, caught her eye and just shook his head. Then he turned back to Lex. "You know, if I didn't know it was in vain, I'd tell you a few things about how Eco's live… or used to live. But let me just put it in words you might understand: Looks can be deceiving."

With that, he stood up, brushing some leftover sand from his clothes and looked around.

"What are we going to do next?", Hope wanted to know. She was hungry, and her stomach was audibly rumbling. "Where will we be going?"

"High ground…", Falcon murmured, looking upstream. "There's high ground ahead."

"Yeah? So what!", Lex interjected fiercely. "I say we go to the village this Whaler girl mentioned, get something to eat there and then go on from there."

"Really? Nice idea, Lex!", Falcon pointed out with an unmissable sarcastic undertone. "And where would that village be? You don't happen to have a map of the area, do you?"

"I don't need a map, smartass!", Lex barked back. "There's paths across this forest, in case you missed them? And they gotta lead somewhere!"

"Somewhere, right! What do you think, there's some kind of a nice, signposted hiking trail taking a scenic route around here back to the village?"

"Enough!" Hope cut them both off before they could continue arguing. "Will you stop it, both of you? This is getting us nowhere!"

She glanced from Lex to Falcon and back again. Both glared at each other, then Lex stuffed his hands into his trousers' pockets, while Falcon put her hands to her hips. Though none of them spoke a word, the looks on their faces spoke volumes. They were majorly pissed at each other. Lex hated it that Falcon always acted as if she knew better, and Falcon hated it that Lex always wanted to head out brawn over brain without thinking first.

"Now?", Lex finally found his voice again, looking at the others. "What are we going to do? I still think we should head for that village."

"And I still think we oughta head for higher ground to locate that village first before we go anywhere!", Falcon said firmly.

"And what if I don't want to run uphill to take a scenic view?", Lex challenged her patience again.

"You don't have to, Lex", Hawk quickly said before Falcon and Lex could pick their argument up where they left it. "This is not an army, and none of us is going to order you to go anywhere. You're welcome to follow, but if you feel better not to, then don't."

"Finally, the first intelligent words I hear!", Lex snarled.

"But bear in mind that we lost everything when the boat was wrecked. So far, we don't have anything to trade for food, blankets or whatever", Hawk reminded him. "And honestly I don't think anyone around here is willing to give up anything without getting something in return."

"Oh, don't worry about me, I'll get by!", Lex proclaimed in his ever so self-confident attitude. As if he couldn't get along very nicely without the "guidance" of Hawk and Falcon. Pah! What did he need them for, anyway? He'd gotten along very well on his own accounts long before he even met those two. "C'mon Hope, let's go!"

He turned to go, but after a few steps he stopped and turned around again when he realized Hope wasn't following him.

"Hope?"

But Hope was hesitant, although kind of glad he didn't want to march off on his own, but with her.

"I don't know, Lex…"

"Oh, I see!", he interrupted before Hope could finish her sentence. "So you're on their side now?"

"I'm not on anybodys side, Lex", she replied. The tone in his voice was hurting, but Hope didn't let it show that she was indeed somewhat hurt by it. "You have a point there, Lex, when you say we should go and get us some food, blankets and all that and that this village is probably the best place to get it, but Hawk and Falcon have a point there, too. We don't know where the village is at all, and we have nothing to trade."

"Who said we can't get us anything on our way there?", Lex snapped.

"Please, Lex…", Hope continued trying to reason with him. "You know damn well there's no supermarket we can just stop at and get something, which means we'll have to get everything ourselves. And I don't know how to fish or hunt, nor do I know all berries, herbs or roots that are edible and which ones aren't. But Hawk and Falcon do, and the way I see it right now, we are best advised to follow their lead if we want something to eat. And besides, who said that the way to that village doesn't lead across that high ground anyway?"

Pleadingly, she looked at Lex. Now it was up to him to decide, and she really hoped he'd reconsider splitting up with the rest of them. After all, there was only the four of them there in an unfamiliar place with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Hope didn't like the thought of Lex parting ways with the group, whether it be with or without her. But she knew how much Lex hated to be told what to do, even if it was in his best interest, and to top it off Hawk and Falcon were definitely all but his favorites to follow.

"Whatever you decide on, please do it quick. We're losing time here, I'm starving and I'd rather be out hunting dinner than endlessly discussing our next step!"

That was Falcon, who was leaning against a tree with her arms crossed over her chest. Obviously she was feeling better, her complexion was almost back to normal and she was determined to head out and get something to eat. When he heard this, Hawk couldn't help but smile. He was happy and relieved that despite her severe seasickness Falcon was back to her old self again, just like she had predicted on the boat.

Much to everyone's surprise, Lex gave in.

"Okay", he said. "Then let's get up that stupid hill. But let me tell you one thing, as soon as I catch a glimpse of that village, that's where I'm headed!"

He'd never admit to it, but Hope was right. As far as he was concerned, Hawk and Falcon were probably the biggest smart alecks under the sun – well, right behind Amber and Bray – but at least they were quite capable of getting bread on the table, even if there was no table. So it would've been quite stupid to head out on his own when those two would be doing all the work in terms of hunting and preparing whatever they'd catch. After all, heading for that village was much easier done on a full stomach.

"Fine then, let's go!"

Hawk led them uphill along the river, followed by Lex and Hope, while Falcon was the backmarker. None of them spoke too much, so most of the time all there was to hear was the gurgling of the river and some birds singing in the treetops way up over their heads. The weather got better, temperatures went up a little and every once in a while a ray of sunlight fell through the leaves down on the boggy ground; a highly welcomed turn of things for the four of them. Their clothes slowly dried, and most of whatever sand was left in and underneath them fell off while they were marching through the woods.

For almost two hours they were marching along like that, speaking just very little, mostly indulging in their thoughts. Every once in a while Hawk or Falcon picked up some berries or edible leaves and shared them with the others, but it wasn't much and they were still very hungry. Then, all of a sudden, Hawk stopped, raising his hand to signal the others to stop as well. Lex, still in thought, almost bumped into him.

"Geez… what is it, grasshopper?", he asked impatiently.

"Shhhh… you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Lex looked around and listened, but all he could hear was the wind moving the trees and some birds sing somewhere up there. Great. What was this all about, a lecture about birdsongs? "I don't hear anything", he growled. "Except for some stupid birds chirping!"

"Then listen again…", Hawk said, as usual not losing his cool.

Hope tried to figure out what Hawk was talking about, straining her ears to hear what he seemed to have heard that was obviously important enough for him to stop their march. The rustling of the leaves? Probably not. The singing of the birds? Not likely either. Then she heard something that hadn't been there before, or at least she hadn't noticed it. A strange, creaking noise, sounding like somebody closing a metal door with rusty hinges. Where did that come from?

"What is that sound?", she asked puzzled, looking at Hawk.

"Dinner!", Falcon replied in lieu of Hawk. A broad grin spread across her face as she had recognized the creaking sound.

"Dinner?", Hope echoed, looking even more puzzled than before.

"Yep, dinner!" Falcon was still grinning. "If you don't mind, I'll go get it!"

With that she marched off, following the creaking sound further into the woods. Hawk, Lex and Hope stayed where the were, watching Falcon blend in with the trees and bushed and quickly disappearing within them.

"Where is she going?", Hope asked again. "Or rather, what is she going after?"

"A partridge", Hawk explained. "A grey partridge, to be exact. That's what made these creaking sounds."

"I hope it's big enough to really make dinner!", Lex remarked, his stomach rumbling.

"It will", Hawk reassured him. "A partridge is about the size of a chicken, so it'll be enough for the four of us."

"Your words in my ear, grasshopper!"

Meanwhile, Falcon followed the calls of the partridge deeper into the woods until she spotted what she was looking for. The greyish brown bird was pecking for insects on the edge of a clearing, obviously not aware of the huntress following its every move. Falcon knew that a partridge, much like a chicken, would only be capable of flying very short distances, much rather it would try running away when threatened. So with a little luck and the moment of surprise on her side, the bird would be a comparably easy target. When the moment was right, Falcon quickly left her cover, chased the partridge for a few paces before finally jumping and grabbing its feet. The bird squealed in panic, wildly flapping its wings and fidgeting, trying to escape, but no chance. Once Falcon hat the bird firmly in her grasp, she didn't let go again.

From where they were standing and waiting, Hope, Lex and Hawk could hear the agitated screams of the bird, although they couldn't see anything. But they didn't have to.

"Sounds good", Hawk nodded. "She's got it."

"Are you sure?", Lex asked, raising an eyebrow. To him, that squealing and creaking behind this wall of trees didn't necessarily sound like a successful hunt. And by now, he was way too hungry to accept failure.

As if to answer his question, Falcon returned, holding the captured partridge's feet with one hand and its wings with the other, a triumphant grin on her face.

"Here's dinner!", she said.

"Oh, great!", Lex exclaimed when he saw what Falcon brought back. "It's still alive!"

"Yes, it is", she agreed. "Yet."

Suddenly, Lex remembered that he had never seen Falcon actually kill their hunting or fishing prey. Granted, she seemed to be a skilled huntress and caught fish he hadn't even seen swim by, but thus far, Hawk had always been the one preparing the catch. And that had included killing the game. _Great_, he thought_. The oh-so-great huntress can't bear to kill a stupid bird!_

"Now what?", he asked. "You want me to kill it?"

Falcon struggled to hide a smirk upon hearing Lex' question. What was he up to now? Was good old Lex once again trying to boast his ego? Well, why not. It was rare enough that Lex volunteered to do something for the group, so she certainly wasn't going to deny him.

"Oh yes, please, could you?"

"Well alright…", he groaned, rolling his eyes. "Give me that!"

He pointed to the partridge, that was still squealing, but couldn't wriggle its way out of Falcon's grasp. Lex wasn't exactly sure how to take over the bird, but as he didn't want to lose face he decided to grab its feet. When Falcon released her grip, the partridge started flapping its wings, whirling up leaves from the ground and annoying Lex.

"Aaargh! Stop that, will you? Stupid bird!"

He knelt down, trying to keep the partridge from fidgeting around, but handling a panicking bird is easier said than done. Finally, Lex found a way to somewhat pin the bird to the ground.

"Knife?", he demanded. Hawk handed him his knife.

"Careful. It's sharp."

"Don't you say, grasshopper…"

Just about when Lex took the knife from Hawk, the partridge started fidgeting again, causing him to almost let go of it. It screached loudly and tried to flap its wings. Hope, who admittedly wasn't keen on seeing blood and had vowed to herself she'd turn her back on the killing of the bird, now couldn't help but stare at Lex's efforts, and so did Hawk and Falcon. Literally feeling them watch him, Lex put even more effort into his self-given task. He wished he had a third hand to use the knife, as he already had all hands full with just keeping the bird down.

"Now stop fidgeting, for crying out loud!", he barked angrily at the agitated bird, that once again almost escaped his grip. "Geez, now look at me, I'm talking to some stupid bird!"

For another minute they watched Lex struggle with the partridge, then Hawk cut in again.

"Umm, Lex? I don't think this is leading anywhere…"

"Right… That bird could be nicely roasting already", Falcon nodded.

"Is that so?" Now Lex was barking at Falcon. "You think you can do it better?"

"Err… yes.", Falcon said, matter-of-factly, this time without losing her cool, but still struggling to hide a grin.

"Oh yeah, sure!" Lex glared at her, obviously pissed. Then he got up, grabbed the partridge and crammed it into Falcon's arms. "There you go, then do it!"

The bird creaked again, and Falcon quickly closed her grip on its feet and wings again. Then, when she had the partridge's wings firmly in her grip, she let go of the feet and looked at the others.

"So, umm… those of you who can't see blood better turn around now", she said. Hope did just that. Something told her that this would now go way faster than Lex's attempt did.

"Now stop bragging, get going!", Lex tried rushing her, handing her the knife.

"Just a second…"

She took the knife, and from there it really was just a matter of seconds. Falcon grabbed the blade of the knife and hit the partridge's back of the head with the hilt. One last squeal, then the bird was knocked out cold. Quickly, Falcon dropped the knife, grabbed the bird's head and neck, turned it, pulled… Seconds later, the torn off head of the partridge laid on the ground.

"You can turn back around now", Hawk told Hope, kicking some loose leaves over the bird's head, while Lex still stood there and just stared at Falcon and the now headless partridge. She looked back at him.

"You've been carefully watching, I suppose? So now you know how to do it. Next bird is yours."

For a moment there, Lex was dumbfounded and just nodded, completely forgetting about making a quick remark.

"Okay then, let's get on and find us a place for a camp fire!"

Hawk took the lead again as they continued marching uphill, until they finally reached a clearing.

"Alright, let's rest here and find us some fire wood!"

And so they did.


	5. The Village

They soon found a nice place to start their fire, clearing the area of combustible materials at least four feet all around its location. Then, while Falcon started with plucking the bird, the other three went off to get both firewood and tinder, which Hawk then arranged in a suitable way. Luckily, both Hawk and Falcon knew how to handle the bird and how to start a fire without matches, something that even impressed Lex, although of course he didn't say it.

"You know, there's a city somewhere, that Moana chick said so", Lex told Hope. "Once we're anywhere near it, I'll get us some food and supplies from there."

"But we don't have anything to trade", Hope argued, hearing her stomach rumble as the delicious smell of the roasting bird reached her. Trying to distract herself, she turned her back on the fire and the food, focusing on Lex.

"Then we're not trading, we're stealing", Lex grinned. "Believe me, babe, I know what to do. And this time, there will be no Amber to constantly preach!"

Well, Hope didn't like the thought of stealing either, but on the other hand, she really wanted some clean clothes and other necessities. If stealing would be the only way to get it, then she wouldn't be the one holding Lex back.

"Dinner is ready!" Falcon called from the fire and interrupted the discussion. She had cleaned Hawk's knife and now carefully used it to cut off pieces of meat. Hawk had gathered some berries as well, placing them on a big leaf on the ground. Now they had something to go with the bird.

"We've got to get plates and cups and cutlery", Lex remarked, using another big leaf to put his meat on for it was still too hot to hold in his hand.

"We need to get a lot of things, and I think plates and stuff are pretty much somewhere near the bottom of the list", Falcon remarked. Brushing away a bug from her leaf, she sighed. "Although, it would be nice, of course."

For the first time, they actually sat in silence, enjoying their food. Even Lex was too hungry to complain about something and after the last piece of meat was gone, he felt too filled up to piss anyone off. Enjoying the warmth of the fire, all he wanted was to have a bit of a rest.

"Gosh, I feel so tired", Hope said, yawning. She gathered up the leafs around the fire and threw them into the flames.

"We can't rest now", Hawk quickly said. "We need to get up the high ground and preferably find shelter somewhere, and all of that before darkness falls. I can barely see the sun from underneath those trees, but it must be sometime past noon already. We need to get moving."

"But it's not that far", Hope protested, looking in the direction of the high ground.

"It's further away than it looks", Hawk assured her. "So we should get going. That village Lex wants to go to might even be further away."

They went down to the river again to have one last drink before setting off for the high ground. Hawk had been right, it was much further away than it had seemed to be. They were pretty tired when reaching it but still there was no time for a rest. After a short break they continued their hike further up, leaving a lot of the thickset collections of trees behind. Going further up, there was more sun, more open spaces and the beautiful sky high above them, now more blueish than gray. Most of the wind had died down as well. Apparently, the weather was settling down. They took that as a good sign.

Reaching the top, the first thing Hope did was lowering herself onto a piece of rock, trying to catch her breath. But it didn't take long for her to join the others again. All four of them started to look around, taking in the view. It was indeed beautiful, with the deep blue of the ocean presenting itself to them in all its beauty. But they knew better know. They knew how deadly the ocean really was. Even Hope, probably the most romantic of them, couldn't look at the ocean very long without seeing the pictures of panic and horror in her memories.

"There's something small over there, along the beach", Hawk noticed, pointing it out to the others. "But it seems pretty far away."

"There's something closer", Lex said triumphantly. "It's larger as well. More houses, from what I can see. I'm sure this is the village that girl mentioned."

Not bothering to mention the fact that if Lex hadn't scared Moana away it would be easier to get to know the area, Falcon followed the direction in which Lex pointed. Yes, indeed. There were quite a few houses, but it wasn't big enough to be the city. That was probably the village.

"I think I can manage to lead us in that direction", Hawk said. "It's pretty much going north-west all the time. If we head in that direction, we should reach the village sooner or later."

"It's still quite a march", Falcon said. "But it's the closest thing to civilization right now. And we really need some stuff."

"I think that's the city, further over there", Lex pointed out.

The city was rather big and there were fields and meadows all around it, separating it from the woods, the beach and the village. Getting to the village would prove to be a long march, but they surely couldn't reach the city today. That would be a longer journey and if they would decide to embark on it, they would have to do it with a better knowledge of the area, with full stomachs, food supplies, clean clothes and a goal how to proceed. Going to the city would probably mean that Lex would want to stay, but neither Falcon or Hawk liked cities very much, and Hope would have to make a choice.

But for now, nobody really cared about the city. The village was where they wanted to go and soon enough, Lex urged them to get moving.

"Do you want to hang around here forever?" he asked impatiently while Hawk and Falcon were still discussing landmarks.

"No, but we're trying to get everything memorized", Falcon replied equally impatiently. "After all, we might need to leave that village sooner or later – probably sooner, with your behavior, Lex. So wouldn't it be a good idea to know where go to next?"

"To the city, of course", Lex shot back.

"There are other places out there", Falcon insisted. "And we should keep our options open. Who knows what's gonna happen next?"

"Well, nothing, if we don't get moving!" Lex shot back.

"Fine."

"Fine!"

They stood there, glaring at each other, until Hawk and Hope broke them off by dragging both Falcon and Lex with them downhill again. By the time they were back in the woods again it had gotten cooler as well. They took a short break again, trying to find some sunny spots to sit in.

"Follow me", Hawk finally said, getting back on his feet. "We need to get moving."

Apparently both Hawk and Falcon knew where they were going. Hope had a vague idea of the direction, but she was sure that whatever way Hawk and Falcon would take them, they'd end up there much sooner than if either Hope or Lex had taken the lead.

It was slowly getting dark when they finally came close to the village. First they noticed that there were fewer trees and then, finally, they left the last trees behind, stepping onto a small muddy path that was overgrown with weeds of all sorts. There was a wooden bench too, but bushes and weeds and grass nearly covered it and the wood seemed pretty unsound as well. They had reached the end of the woods.

"There's a road!" Lex suddenly said, his face actually lighting up. "I can't believe it's been that long since I last saw a proper road!"

He started to walk faster, but Hawk quickly caught up with him.

"Lex, do you think it's a good idea to storm into that village like that? We don't know who lives there."

"I wasn't going to storm anywhere!" Lex hissed back, glaring at Hawk. "We can sneak in and have a look around. Or maybe I can. You can stay back here and protect the girls, Grasshopper."

Both girls now glared at Lex, and Hawk rolled his eyes at him.

"We can go nearer together and depending on what we see, we can decide on how to proceed further", he said.

"Yes, let's go together", Hope quickly said. She knew that all three of the others would have no problems with sneaking around, and if someone stayed behind, they'd do so because of her. She didn't feel particularly great about walking into an unknown location, but what choice did they have? And she surely didn't want to end up being the weak link of the group when it came to things like that. With tough guys like Lex and experienced people like Hawk and Falcon, Hope always felt like she had to prove herself.

The others agreed to this, and so they went closer to the village together, staying at the side of the narrow road, always ready to duck behind a bush. Then, in front of them, there was the first house. They went a bit closer and it was then when they realized that the house was completely burned-out, empty and deserted.

"That's sad", Hope commented, eying the once rather big and surely beautiful house with the high trees in the big front garden which was now overgrown by weed. "We're not going to find anything or anyone here. How could this have happened?"

They followed the road further into the village, but soon enough another overgrown garden gave way to yet another burned-out ruin.

"Two burned-out houses and no sign of life", Hope commented with a shudder. "That's odd. What has happened here?"

"There's another house over there. Let's see if this one's in better shape", Falcon said.

But it wasn't. Rather desperate, they stood in front of it, staring at it's black remains. Again, the house was completely burned-out. In addition to that, one of the trees had fallen down, burying the garden-shed, a rusty car and half of the garage in the process. Shocked, the four of them kept staring.

"Well … must have happened after the virus", Lex finally said. "I mean, the house burned-out, but nobody cared to repair anything. They even left the car standing in front of it."

"I agree", Falcon said, finding it very strange to actually agree with Lex on something. "Those houses must have caught fire after their inhabitants were gone. But I don't think it was a wildfire. Those patches of meadows and the trees between the houses, they seem more or less unharmed. So my guess is that some tribe or some people went on a rampage, destroying houses, maybe making this place unlivable for others."

"Or scaring people off", Hawk added. He'd been walking further down the street but was looking back at them now. "This isn't the center of the village yet, just a collection of houses in front of it. Maybe those houses are supposed to keep people off. People like us, or other tribes who come searching for food or prisoners, making them believe there's nothing left to find here."

"So you think someone might be hiding somewhere in the village?" Hope asked, looked around and feeling uneasy immediately.

"Maybe. I think to be sure we shouldn't just walk along main street, having a parade. We should stick near the houses. Those gardens could be useful for hiding", Hawk replied.

Slowly, they continued to walk down the narrow road, passing two other burned-out houses and one that was only half burned-out but looked like the second floor might crash in any second. Those five years after the first virus had clearly taken their toll on the houses.

"Well, we're not going to find anything here", Lex said between gritted teeth, but this time, his anger was directed at the situation, not at his fellow tribemates.

The next few houses weren't burned-out, but they looked horrible with no front doors and the windows being smashed in. Some of them had graffiti sprayed all over their front walls. Shuddering, the four of them came to a halt.

"I think I was right", Falcon said. "This seems to be some bad tribes' doing. Just look at this graffiti."

"Looks like shark teeth", Hope whispered, shuddering. "Maybe this tribe is still here, watching us, ready to come and get us."

"I don't think so", Hawk assured her. "I mean, they seem to be powerful. So why watch us and hide themselves? They could have us surrounded in an instant."

"Either way, I'm not going down without a fight!" Lex growled.

But nothing happened. Even as they went further along the road, they saw nobody. Not even an animal, although they could hear some birds singing in the distance.

There weren't anymore burned-out houses, but most of them looked pretty shabby anyway. There wasn't a garden that wasn't overgrown with grass and weeds, and in some of them, the big old trees had been taken down by one storm or the other.

"Well, there's probably not any food left around here", Lex sighed. "But maybe we can still find some clothes or blankets."

"And a place for the night", Hawk nodded.

"We shouldn't continue along the main road then", Falcon suggested. "Those houses are probably the first ones someone would try when looking for supplies. We might be luckier if we chose some small house way off main road."

"And maybe I won't be feeling like I'm being watched anymore", Hope agreed.

"Aww, come on, babe", Lex grinned, trying to put his arm around her. "I'll protect you, you know that!"

Unfortunately for him, Hope wasn't really in the mood for his antics.

"Let's go", she said. "It will get dark soon and it will get cold as well. A blanket really would be nice to have!"

Following the others through the streets and finally into some back-street, Falcon couldn't shake off the feeling that they were indeed being watched by someone. But whenever they turned around, nobody was there. She tried to look out for potential hiding places, always preparing to suddenly see a face somewhere, but she didn't see anything or anyone. But the feeling didn't go away.

"You okay?" Hawk asked, walking beside her.

"I'm fine, but I've got a weird feeling", she admitted. "Like someone's watching us or something. But I don't feel threatened, just, well, being watched."

"I guess we all do", Hawk agreed. "And maybe we are being watched. But maybe we're not. Maybe it's just the nerves. After all, we've had quite a day, and then seeing those burned-out houses, adding to the overall desolate feeling of this place ..."

"I guess you're right." Falcon shrugged. "If someone's here, they probably just want to be left alone and stay safe, otherwise they'd have shown themselves by now. Still, we should be careful. Maybe we could take turns to keep watch tonight, just in case."

Before the first virus, the village must have been a lovely place, with a big marketplace in the middle with some kind of rusty statue, now full of graffiti, and a water-well next to it. Houses of all sorts were lining the streets, and almost all of them had big or small gardens in front of them. But now everything was destroyed, smeared with graffiti, broken, dusty, rotten and old. It felt like nobody had been there in a long time and yet they had the feeling that someone indeed was here, hiding, watching them.

"We need to chose a house", Falcon reminded the others.

They'd reached an area where a few smaller houses stood, rather far away from the main road. Smaller houses were good. It would be easier to keep watch here.

Lex and Falcon kept arguing over the houses for a while, but in the end, it didn't matter anyway. The first house they went into was dusty and a horrible smell made them come to one conclusion – someone had died in here some time ago. Realizing that, Hope refused to go any further, and truth be told, the others weren't too keen on exploring the house now either.

The next house was pretty small. They did find some dusty old blanket stored away in some old cupboard as well as some empty plastic bottles which they could clean and use them as water bottles to carry some water around with them all the time. But all the windows were broken and the furniture was broken and dusty as well. After Lex fell over a broken piece of furniture, causing everyone to jump in freight at the sudden noise, they decided to look further around.

Another house provided them with some cutlery, which they would have to clean up first, as well as stuff like candles, a small knife, a small sewing kit and a hair brush.

"Don't take everything", Hawk warned them. "If necessary, we can come back here later. We don't need candles that much as long as we don't have a proper place to stay and maybe some matches. And another blanket would be more helpful than a pillow, Lex."

Lex grumbled, but considering that they would have to carry all that stuff with them, he put the dusty and mothy pillow back on the shabby old sofa. There was a time for luxury items, but this was not it.

They did find more blankets though and when Hope yawned, Falcon went over to the broken window.

"It's getting dark and cloudy out there", she said. "Maybe we should call it a day. We don't know where to find water or food here and we can't wander around in the dark, trying to get back to the marketplace with the well we've seen earlier. Let's get some sleep before we'll end up all hungry and thirsty again."

"Maybe there's a bedroom or at least something other than this yucky sofa here", Hope said, sounding tired. "The blankets are pretty good because they've been stored in plastic wrappings all the time in some of those cupboards, but that sofa's just disgusting."

"Feel free to look around", Falcon grinned. "I'd rather take a soft mattress as well, but I guess any bed or other sofa will look similar to this one."

"I don't mind sleeping on the floor", Hawk said. "But I think I'll take the first watch anyway."

"Watch?" Hope asked, looking pale in the dim light that came through the broken window glass. "You think it's necessary?"

"I hope not. But we better not take any chances."

"Maybe we should all stay in the same room for the night", Falcon suggested, thinking that this would make a possible escape quicker than having to run around the house, trying to find everyone else in the dark.

"A room with at least two doors", Lex added, proving that indeed he'd been security chief of the Mall and wanting to show them that if somebody knew about this stuff, it was him. "So if they come in through one door, we can make a run for the other."

"Who are 'they'?" Hope asked, sounding a bit scared.

"Maybe nobody at all." Lex shrugged. "But either way, babe. Stay close to me and you'll be absolutely safe!"

"Except from your snoring", Falcon muttered.

Hope had to giggle at that while Lex was close to an explosion once again.

They finally agreed on sleeping in a room at the back which had at least a carpet, even if it wasn't all that pretty and rather dusty now. But there was a door into the hallway which led straight to the back door and another door that led into the living room. Lex and Hawk carefully placed pieces of furniture at certain places in the house, so anyone who'd enter in the dark would certainly stumble and make enough noise to alert them.

"But we still should take turns to keep watch", Hawk insisted. "Maybe I'm paranoid, but we don't know anything about this place. And I'd rather not take any risks."

"Wake me up in one or two hours so I can take over", Falcon asked him, snuggling into her warm blanket and finding a comfortable position on the floor.

"And you might want to stay close to me, babe", Lex told Hope and got on the floor beside her. "I can protect you as well as keep you warm."

"Ugh!" Falcon commented from her side of the room.

"Shut up!" Lex hissed.

"You shut up as well", Hawk said, lowering his voice, smiling in the darkness. "I think Hope's asleep already. And you two should try to get some rest as well."

"Night, Grasshopper!" Lex promptly replied, and it didn't take long until the snoring started.


	6. Morning After

_**Author's Note: **__Co-Written by my dear friend Sylverhawk._

They rotated their watch during that night, starting with Hawk, followed by Falcon, then by Lex and then it was Hope's turn. However, nothing at all happened, and silence and darkness accompanied them through the night. The morning greeted them with noisy birds in the overgrown garden and daylight coming through slits and holes of the old curtain. Hawk got up and stretched and told Hope to catch a bit of sleep.

"You'll need your energy later", he said. "I'm going to wake Falcon in a bit and we will try to get us some food and water."

Both was very much needed. Hope already felt dizzy from the lack of food and her throat was dry from the lack of water. Other than that, she needed a hot bath, but that was probably the last thing someone could provide her with.

"I hope I will be able to get some sleep", Hope sighed. "My stomach keeps telling me that it wants food and I can barely concentrate on anything else."

However, once she was snuggled up in her blanket again, she drifted off to sleep almost immediately. Hawk kept wandering about the empty house for a while, carefully looking out of the windows. There was no one to be seen. Both the garden and the street were empty and everything was as it had been yesterday.

When Falcon got up she found Hawk rumbling about in the old kitchen, going through the cupboards and trying not to make too much noise. He had the water-bottles they'd found the day before standing on the table, ready to be taken to the well they'd seen when they'd entered the little village yesterday.

"Someone's getting busy", she greeted, coming closer and pushing an old chair out of the way.

Hawk looked up, smiling at her. "Well, someone has to. I told Hope to get back to sleep since she was the last one to keep guard but we should wake up Lex soon as well."

Falcon grimaced. "Do we absolutely have to?" she asked back, not sounding to enthusiastic. "There's only so much Lex I can take on an empty stomach, you know."

Hawk grinned. "I understand perfectly, believe me. But I was planing on getting us a decent meal out in the woods and I was hoping you could go and fetch us some water from the well. Both Lex and Hope could try to find us some useful stuff here."

"I see." Falcon came closer. "You look like you've started the hunt for useful stuff already. Found anything interesting?"

Hawk had opened all sorts of cupboards, cabinets and drawers. He dragged an old bucket out of a cupboard.

"I figured you might need this to get water up from the well. I hope there's still a rope since I couldn't find any here."

"If there's a rope, that probably means someone's still using the well", Falcon slowly pointed out. "I'm sure otherwise someone would have cut if off already and taken it with them."

The two of them shared a look.

"My guess is that someone's using that well, whether there's a rope or not", Hawk finally said. "I don't feel threatened here, but I did feel watched yesterday and although nobody seems to be here, I still feel watched."

"So do I", Falcon agreed, turning away from Hawk to face the window. Hawk had drawn the curtains but through the thin material they could see the empty street outside. "My guess is that someone's hiding here and they don't want to be found."

"Well, I don't want to be found either, but there's no point leaving here without a full stomach, some water and at least a few supplies", Hawk replied. "We've got blankets and water-bottles, which is a good start, but ..."

"I'm going to fill these bottles", Falcon exclaimed, crabbing them as well as the empty bucket. "Although I'm probably going to have to waste some water first to get everything clean. That bucket's awfully dusty."

"Be careful!" Hawk warned. He crossed the room until he reached Falcon and put his arms around her, sharing a quick kiss with her.

She leaned against him, enjoying their shared moment of privacy. They hadn't been alone for quite a while and moments and opportunities like this were pretty rare.

"I miss this", Falcon whispered, looking up at her boyfriend. "And I miss you. I wish ..."

"I know." He held her close. "Hopefully, once we settled somewhere … "

They shared another kiss, one that lasted longer than the first one, and then Falcon broke away, grabbing the bucket. "I better go before Lex comes barging in here, making stupid remarks. Because if he does, I'm going to use that cutlery over there on him!"

Falcon left the house through the backdoor, carefully making her way through the overgrown garden. Once it must have been a pretty sight with a small path leading across a beautiful lawn and tall hedges surrounding the property. Now, the grass was so high that it was impossible to see the path and the hedges had taken up most of the space. Thin branches got into Falcon's way as well as stinging nettles that were almost as tall as she was.

With a sigh of relief she reached the driveway and got onto the deserted street from there. Birds were singing in the distance but otherwise no noise was to be heard. Again, Falcon felt watched but she couldn't see anything or anyone. And in broad daylight it was a lot less creepy.

It was rather easy to find the town square with the well again and after giving the area a quick check for any signs of someone hiding somewhere, Falcon walked towards it. To her relief the well provided a heavy chain to move the bucket up and down, and the chain, although rusty, was still firmly in its place.

There was no bucket, but since Falcon had planed ahead and brought one herself, that wasn't a problem. She secured the bucket and let it down, using the first load of water to clean both the bucket and the plastic bottles. Once the bucket was full again Falcon took a sip of water. It was crystal-clear, cold and refreshing and once she started she couldn't stop herself from drinking. Then, finally, she filled the bottles and than the bucket again and slowly made her way back to the house they were using as a hideout.

Once Falcon got back she got greeted impatiently by Lex who quickly drank nearly a whole bottle of water.

"You could have brought more!" he complained.

Falcon rolled her eyes, eying the cutlery in the corner but then decided Lex wasn't worth the trouble.

"You want more water, you go and get it yourself. Those are our bottles and what's in the bucket we might need for cleaning purposes."

"Fine!" he growled. "I'm going to wake Hope now. Let's hope Grasshopper will return with more than a handful of berries. I'm starving!"

Falcon opened her mouth to tell Lex to go hunting himself next time but he'd already left the room. Soon, there were his and Hope's voices from across the floor.

"Come on, babe. Be nice! How about a -"

"I'm thirsty, I'm hungry, I'm dirty and I smell."

"Well, so am I. Still ..."

Rolling her eyes, Falcon walked in and handled Hope her bottle of water. "That's for the thirst and we've got some water to clean us up a bit, too. Hawk's out hunting for food."

Hope smiled. "Thanks", she muttered before doing what both Lex and Falcon had also done – gulping down the water. "I really needed that", she added after her bottle was nearly empty. "Now I feel a bit better."

"Great. Let's wait for the food, then." That was Lex, of course.

"How about we get some stuff done here as well?" Falcon asked, lifting her eyebrows. "We could start with getting ourselves and some of the stuff we found yesterday clean and then we can look for other useful stuff. Just look at us, like we're wearing rags! We need some decent clothes!"

Lex growled, but he couldn't really argue with that, so the three of them gathered in the kitchen. There was the dirty half of a broken piece of soap in a dusty cupboard under the sink as well as a moth-eaten teatowel. They spend some time trying to wash their faces and hands, shaking sand out of their shoes and clothes and the girls had a hard time trying to disentangle their hair.

Staring into a broken and dirty mirror in the bathroom, Hope was horrified by her pale face, the dark circles under her eyes and the messy mop on her head that once had been her hair. Her skin was dry, her lips were chapped and she had small wounds here and there. Back at the Mall, they'd never been looking like this.

Then Falcon's face appeared next to hers and with a sigh, Hope realized that at least she wasn't the only one looking horrible.

"I think from the four of us, Lex smells the most horrible", Falcon commented, feeling up a rather long scratch on her cheek.

Hope couldn't help but giggle. "And I guess I win the prize for 'most horrible looking'", she said.

"I think I've got you beat there. You rather look like you're half starved."

"I am half starved", Hope sighed. "I know Hawk's doing his best out there but I really hope he will be back soon. With a bird, berries, anything. The water's done a lot of good but I need something to eat really bad. I'm feeling rather light-headed."

"Hawk will be back soon", Falcon assured her. "He knows what he's doing. But it does take a while to get back into the woods and to hunt something down and then get back here. In the meantime, we could clean some of those old plates and the cutlery so we'll be ready to eat as soon as Hawk comes back."

"And then what?" Hope asked, following Falcon out of the bathroom. Their footprints were all over the dusty floor now. "Will we keep moving? Or stay for another night?"

"I say we go into the city", Lex interjected. "I know my way around in the city, any city. I can get us food and we can find a place to stay."

Falcon wasn't too keen on living in the city permanently but she let it slide. Truth was, she didn't have a better plan. Yes, the Gaians had lived in the woods but they had had huts and tents and a whole camp. Here, they had absolutely nothing except knives, blankets, bottles of water and an old bucket. And neither Lex or Hope had any clue of how to live out in the woods. It wouldn't work this way. Maybe they could spend a night or two in the woods but …

"We could stay here", Hope interrupted her thoughts while she tried to clean the plates and the cutlery over at the old sink. "We've already found some useful stuff in those abandoned houses. We could try to set something up here. And there's the well for water and there's the wood for hunting ..."

"There's also probably someone living here already", Falcon gently reminded her. She understood where Hope was coming from. The girl wanted a secure place and most of all, she wanted them all to stick together. But Lex wouldn't stay in a camp in the woods and neither Hawk nor Falcon would stay in the city very long.

"We don't know that", Hope replied, biting her lip. But she didn't sound too hopeful anymore. Someone's been watching them and Hope had felt it as well.

"Great, hunting in the woods and getting water from the well and playing house." Lex rolled his eyes. "Get real, Hope. There's nothing to do here! It's just a bloody creepy place."

"I wouldn't say creepy, but ..." Falcon sighed and corrected herself. Yes, the place was creepy. Empty, burned-out houses guarding the little village, someone watching their every move, nothing but silence and strange graffiti that looked a lot like shark teeth.

"So you would say creepy!" Lex grinned. Then he turned back to Hope. "See, another reason why we can't stay here. So, I still say the city's our next goal!"

"Our next goal is food and apart from that, I think we might stay another night here anyway. When we leave here, we probably should leave early in the morning so we have the whole day for exploring. It's past midday already now and we've still got to eat. I don't think we're going to go anywhere today", Falcon stated firmly.

Hope nodded. "We should wait for Hawk until we decide anyway", she said, eying the moth-eaten teatowel with disgust and placing the clean cutlery on the wiped-clean space next to the sink without drying it first.

"Great." Lex rolled his eyes again. "And where _is_ Hawk!"

Hawk was on his way back now, carrying a rather big bird with him as well as some edible roots and berries which he'd found in the woods. He'd found an old basket in the house which he'd taken with him. Now, it provided a good way to carry everything back to the village.

He'd quenched his thirst at a hidden little creek in the woods and he'd eaten some berries already, so he felt well enough to hunt some more or even try to find his way back to the stream they'd seen yesterday. There'd been some pretty big fish in there and Hawk was sure he would have been able to catch some. However, the others were waiting and they were hungry. There was no time to waste.

The first houses of the village came into view, dark and creepy and lonely. The sight was rather sad and Hawk couldn't help but look at them for a while, imagining how they must have looked before the virus. Big gardens, long driveways, everything nice and clean, with expensive cars outside and children running happily across the lawn. Now there was nothing left except a dead, blackened building that represented the whole feeling of the village. Desolation.

And then there was the feeling again. The feeling of being watched.

Slowly, Hawk turned around but there was absolutely nothing and nobody there. And yet the feeling didn't go away.

Someone else might have hurriedly walked away, but Hawk being Hawk stood still and studied his surroundings. If someone was watching and following him all along the street, they probably did so using the overgrown gardens as a cover, hiding themselves in bushes, trees and behind broken fences. They'd probably done that a lot of times because they made no mistake at all. No sudden movements, no curiously peaking out from behind a tree, nothing. Whoever was here probably had one or two hiding places in each of those gardens, always keeping watch and playing it safe. No, Hawk didn't feel threatened. But looking at one of the sinister graffiti he realized that the person spying on him was probably a lot more frightened than he was.

There was a little bird rising high into the air, flying away. It happened very quickly and most people wouldn't have given a second thought. But most people weren't former Gaians.

Maybe there was a way of telling those people that he didn't mean any harm. Or maybe a way of getting more information. Well, maybe at least a way of getting a glimpse at one of these people. If he was right, they or at least one of them were hiding in that big garden right across the street. If he could find a way to surprise them …

Whoever they were, they were good. And they had the advantage of being on their home soil. Hawk knew it wouldn't be easy to trick them and get around behind their backs, but he wanted to know who had been watching him and his friends ever since they first entered the village.

He stood there, in the middle of the street, not moving an inch, just silently watching his surroundings, listening to even the faintest noises that didn't belong there, trying to distinguish whether the slight rustling of leaves was caused by wind or by something or someone hinding behind a bush. A minute or two passed, then Hawk moved on a few steps, stopped again, watched and listened. Two more times he repeated this routine until he was finally sure he knew where his follower was hiding and how he could get around them. He turned around the next corner, went over a half-rotten fence that once marked the borders of a formerly beautiful garden, and carefully made his way between thick brushes, stinging nettles and the walls of a house that looked like it was going to crumble down any second. Careful not to make any noise, Hawk ducked behind a gooseberry bush and peeked through its branches and leaves. Finally, not even 15 feet away, he caught a glimpse of somebody hiding in the underwood. It was a girl, a small and slender girl with long light blonde hair and a rather pale skin. She still peeked out onto the street, possibly assuming Hawk was still out there. Obviously she posed no threat, and for a moment Hawk thought about whether to just leave her be or whether to talk to her. He finally decided to try and talk to her and slowly got up from behind his hideout.

"Hello!"

Startled, the girl winced and whirled around, landing on her bottoms. Wide eyed she stared at Hawk and tried to scram away when he came a few steps closer.

"Whow, hey… easy!", he tried to calm her, seeing the obvious fear in her eyes. "Don't be scared, I'm not going to hurt you!"

The girl had backed away until she reached a thorny bush that blocked her path, while Hawk hadn't moved at all so as not to scare her any further.

"I really don't mean to harm you", he said, putting down the basket with his hunting prey and coming a step closer. "I just want to talk to you."

He made another step towards the girl, who now didn't seem to be all panicked anymore. Instead there was cautious curiosity in her eyes. When he stood in front of her, Hawk extended a hand to her to help her back up on her feet and she gladly accepted it.

"So… My name is Hawk. And yours?"

"Eden…", the girl replied softly, just as if she wanted to make sure that nobody else could hear her.

"You live here, in the village?"

Eden quickly looked around, then she nodded.

"With your tribe?", Hawk asked, wondering whether this petite girl could've caused all that uneasy feeling among his friends all on her own. But Eden shook her head no.

"So you live all on your own here?"

This time, Eden nodded again. Hawk raised an eyebrow. He had noticed that for a split second Eden had been hesitant before she answered his question. So she probably wasn't living all alone in the village, he figured. It seemed to him as if she wanted to protect something – or someone? – with this answer. _A child maybe_, Hawk thought.

"Okay…", he finally said. "Listen, Eden, my friends and me, we've noticed you've been watching us ever since we set a foot into your village. But we don't mean trouble. We're just passing through, and from the looks of things we'll probably be gone tomorrow. So you don't have to worry…"

"Where are you headed?"

This was the first time Eden spoke a whole sentence. She had decided for herself that Hawk was telling her the truth, that he and his friends were no threat to her. If they were, they would've attacked her by now. So as far as Eden was concerned, they weren't with the Sharks, and that was a good thing.

"We don't know yet", Hawk answered shrugging.

"Don't go to the city", Eden advised, again looking around as if to make sure nobody saw or heard her talking to Hawk. "The city is a bad place…"

_Tell me about it_, Hawk thought and nodded. "Yes, so we've been told."

Once more, Eden quickly looked around.

"I need to go!", she then said, turned around and followed a narrow path that lead to the far end of the yard, through thorny vines and stinging nettles. She turned around again and looked at Hawk. "Beware of the Sharks! They're evil!"

And with that, she disappeared between tall bushes and low hanging braches of a tree.

Hawk then picked up his basket again and made his way back to his friends and wasn't really surprised by the way he was greeted by Lex.

"It's about time you got back here!", he barked. "We're starving here! Where have you been, taking the scenic route, hugging some trees maybe?"

"Nice to see you too, Lex…", Hawk replied, rolling his eyes. "How about you make yourself useful and get a fire going so we can roast that bird?"

They went out the backdoor into what used to be a nice terrace, but by now it was all pretty rotten and overgrown with vines and grass. Still it was a good place for a campfire, and Lex indeed made himself useful by gathering wood and starting the fire, while Hope brought some plates and cutlery that she had cleaned up in the kitchen and Falcon plucked the bird.

"By the way… I know now who's been watching us…"

Three pairs of eyes immediately were turned towards Hawk.

"Really? Who are they?", Falcon wanted to know.

"Not they… it's just one. I've kinda run into her when-"

"Her?", Lex interrupted. "A girl? Geez… what is this place, anyway? We're only bumping into girls here, have you noticed?"

"Ever since when do you have a problem with bumping into girls?"

Falcon raised an eyebrow, and Lex just sneered at her.

"Anyway, she's no threat to us and I told her we're no threat to her because we're out of the village quite soon. I think she believed me, and I guess she won't be watching us any longer. There's no tribe in the village, just her."

"That's good to know", Hope said, obviously relieved.

"Yeah, if she didn't fool you, Grasshopper! I mean, with girls, you never know, right!"

Lex grinned, but once again ended up being the only one finding his joke funny, so he quickly turned his attention back to the fire.


	7. Rain

After dinner, they got busy again, exploring some other houses and adding more stuff to their new belongings. They even found some clothes, although not clean, nor very fitting ones. Lex proudly wore his 'new' coat while Hawk replaced his thin shirt and added some warm jacket to his outfit. Hope found herself some kind of cord pants, which probably had belonged to some young boy because they were too slender for a grown man and too boyish for a girl. They did not fit perfectly but they did their job. They each also brought some warm clothing along to wear over their own in case it got cold.

In addition, Hope cleaned the downstairs bathtub from dust and other disgusting stuff. They found another bucket and carried buckets of water back to the house. Putting it in the bathtub, Hope tried her best to get their clothes – especially their underwear – clean, using the soap and other stuff they'd found earlier. They tried to clean themselves as well but getting bucket after bucket of water so four people could get themselves clean proved to be a tiresome thing to do. They gave it up after a while, promising themselves they'd jump into the next river they'd pass.

Falcon and Hawk went back into the woods to get dinner as well as next morning's breakfast. Meanwhile, Hope was busy setting up their beds in the back room while Lex got some more wood for another fire. When he came back in, Hope was just putting the last blanket down.

"Finally", he announced, stepping into the room. "Tomorrow, we'll be out of this rathole. Can't wait to explore the city!"

"Lex, the city's dangerous!" Hope warned, sounding worried. "You heard what both that Eden girl and the girl we met at the beach said. Those Shark people are evil!"

"So?" Lex replied. "Don't worry, babe, I'll chase them away. They're not going to lay a hand on you!"

"You can not chase away a whole tribe!" Hope said, shooting him a look. If he could do that, he could have used that talent to chase away both the Chosen and the Technos, and probably Ebony too.

"Well, no", he reluctantly agreed and then shrugged. "But I can still protect you. I can get you into the city, Hope, just trust me. They won't even notice us."

Trust Lex? Bad idea! But Lex loved to talk big and to maintain peace, Hope pretended that he made perfect sense to her. However, the city was the last place she wanted to go and just thinking of the dangerous-looking shark teeth graffiti here in this village made her shiver. She did not want to meet another dangerous tribe. They'd just fled from a deadly virus the Technos had invented. She needed a bit of love, peace and harmony after that, no matter how cheesy that sounded.

"Both grasshoper and birdie-girl will be out for a while." Lex came closer, coming to a stop right behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders. He still smelled disgusting. But then, so did she.

"I know. They're getting us food."

"Well, we could make good use of the time they're gone. You know, we haven't really been alone since that time on the beach. You remember that, don't you?"

His voice became quieter and more suggestively and he carefully trailed his fingertips over her naked arms. She was shivering and it wasn't because of the cool evening temperature.

"It will take them quiet a while to get back here …"

"If they can't catch anything, they'll be back sooner", she replied, not moving an inch. She wanted to step away, back into a safe zone where Lex would leave her alone. Another part of her didn't want to be left alone. Desperately, she tried to block that other part out. This was Lex. Getting involved with Lex was a bad idea. Not only did his girlfriends usually die or disappear, he would break her heart in the end anyway. Not on purpose, but because he was Lex – self-serving Lex who was always looking out for number one, not caring who he took down in the process. Lex, whose one true love would always be Tai-san, no matter how much Hope would try to change that. No. This was just a very, very bad idea.

"Come on, babe."

He stepped around her and tried to put his arms around her, leaning closer. Okay, the smell definitely helped to feel grossed out. Now Hope was thankful for the smell.

"Lex … no!"

She stepped away, crossing her arms in front of her chest protectively, glaring at him. No, she would not be some stupid girl who he had fun with just because he was bored and horny and no one else was around.

He rolled his eyes at her. "Back at the beach, you were much nicer", he growled but finally took a step back.

"I was desperate", she hastily tried to explain. "I thought I wouldn't make it … we were about to go out on that boat and …"

"Great. So you used me?"

Now he sounded pissed and Hope bit back a laugh. Lex was using people all the time. But of course being used himself didn't go so well with his pride. Beside, as far as Hope was concerned, they'd been using each other. Or, in Hope's case, using each other had been a pretty good excuse to finally …

"I'd say we used each other", she said, interrupting her own thoughts.

"Great. That doesn't make me feel any better." He glared at her and then he probably realized that he would not get what he wanted by pissing her off. He forced himself to smile. "But you know, that using each other part … it was kinda fun, wasn't it?"

Well, kind of. But she certainly wouldn't tell that to Lex.

"And you know … have you ever heard of 'friends with benefits'?"

She groaned. Lex seemed to be very desperate since he was willing to try every trick in the book.

"What!" he shot back. "Can't blame me for trying!"

"Maybe you should get some more wood", she suggested and started picking up the blankets again to suggest that she was busy.

"We don't need that much wood. We're leaving tomorrow. Besides, it's getting really cold out there." He sounded a bit annoyed.

"I think cold is exactly what you need right now, Lex."

Again, he glared at her. Then he stormed off, leaving Hope to sink on the nearest blanket, relieved to be alone.

Falcon and Hawk returned some time later with a small bird and lot's of berries and edible roots. They decided to leave the bird for tomorrow and just eat the berries for dinner. They went down nicely together with the fresh water from the well.

"If this village weren't so creepy, it would make a nice place to live", Falcon commented, wiping her fingers on an old towel.

"I hate this place", growled Lex, his mood still somewhere between 'pissed' and 'totally pissed'. "We need to find the city!"

"We're not going to the city, Lex", Hawk carefully reminded him.

Lex glared at him, using him to release the anger and frustration he felt towards Hope.

"What do you mean, of course we are! I'm not going to hug trees with you, grasshoper, forget it!"

"Well, of course you can go wherever you like, Lex, but as for the rest of us, I don't think any of us wants to go near the city."

Lex growled again, ignoring both Hawk and Falcon because he knew it was hopeless with them. He stared at Hope.

"I'm sorry, Lex." At least she sounded sorry. "But I really don't want to go into the city."

"You've heard her, now leave her alone", Falcon interruped when Lex was about to give a sharp reply. "Besides, I mean, we might have to go through the city or around the city or near the city at some point. But as long as we don't have to, why should we?"

"Because …"

Because the city, any city, was his world, his territory, his place. He knew his way around cities and city people. It was a place where he could scheme and lie and trick people, a place where he could fight and shout and get drunk. A place where he could be Lex. Whereas here in the woods – this wasn't his world, it was Falcon's and Hawk's and he felt like a stranger here and a pretty useless one at that.

Lex hated being useless, being told what to do, having to rely on others. He needed to prove that he was useful to the group, although he didn't like to admit that, not even to himself. He needed to be someone's hero, whether that someone was Gel, Siva, Hope or even a bunch of stupid city kids that needed to be saved by the big bad sheriff. He needed to be in charge and he badly wanted to be in charge, telling both Hawk and Falcon off and ordering them around as they did him. He hated them for feeling so comfortable out here, for being able to provide them with food and for leading their way. And he was envious of the way Hope got along with them. Those two weren't even real Mallrats. They weren't friends. He was the last remaining Mallrat, the last remaining friend for Hope. But now there was Hawk getting food and water and leading them through the woods. Hope would probably end up falling for that guy. Hell, she was probably fancying him already. That's why she'd blocked his advances earlier. Ah, crap. He hated that stupid treehugger even more now. He was the leader and the hero and got all the girls chasing after him. Now where did that leave Lex?

"Because what, Lex?" Falcon asked impatiently, helping herself to the last berry.

_Because I need the city. Because I'm nothing out here. Because …_

He didn't say that out loud, of course. Lex had learned from an early age not to let others see his weaknesses and that had had nothing to do with the virus. And well, he wouldn't start now. They wanted to wander around in the woods again? Fine. He'd trail along and leave as soon as anything better came up. This just wasn't his world and it wasn't his tribe anymore. He shot a dark glance at Hope. And probably not his friend anymore either. Damn the grasshopper, damn this world, damn everything!

"Forget it", he hissed at Falcon. "I'm out of here soon. Then the three of you can hug trees and eat bugs all you want."

"Lex …"

And no, the last thing he wanted from Hope was anything that sounded like pity.

"Shut it!" he spat at her, getting on his feet. "I'm going to bed. I take it there's no need for keeping watch now that we know there's only some silly girl running around here in creepy-town, is there?"

Hope looked rather shocked at his tone, Falcon rolled her eyes and Hawk tried to say something, but Lex didn't wait for him to do so but turned and stormed out of the room.

"What's with him?" Falcon asked, lifting her eyebrows.

Hope didn't answer and instead just started to collect the dirty plates. Hawk and Falcon shared a look but didn't comment on anything anymore either.

Although Hawk had still felt a bit worried he didn't keep watch that night and neither did the others. They all woke up safe and sound the next morning when the sunlight came through the old curtains.

"Rise and shine!" Falcon shouted, getting on her feet. "We've got loads of stuff to do, guys! Roast a bird, get water for washing and drinking, pack up …"

"I'm all for roasting that bird", Hawk grinned, sitting up and pushing his blanket away. He got onto his feet, took hold of Falcon and gave her a quick kiss. She grinned, obviously enjoying the attention.

"You want me to puke?"

Of course, that was Lex and it ruined everything. Falcon just groaned, grabbed her blanket and left the room, followed by Hawk. Soon, Hope appeared in the kitchen was well, getting the plates and cutlery ready for dinner.

They ate in silence. Lex was still in a bad mood, shooting angry glances at everyone. The other three did their best to ignore him.

After everything was done, there was only packing up left to do. They rolled up their blankets and used drawstrings to keep them rolled up. Some of the other stuff they'd found ended up being packed into an old plastic bag. They took their water bottles as well as both buckets, some old towels, some pieces of clothing and the basket. Falcon had found some old rucksack in one of the other houses which she carried on her back now, heavy with all the stuff they'd found. Hope had her blanket tied to her back and the basket and the buckets to carry. The four water bottles had been placed inside one of the buckets. They were all filled with water. The two guys had enough to carry as well, but nobody complained. They stood at the door of their little 'camp', ready to set off.

"Ready?" Falcon asked.

"Yeah", Lex grumbled. He looked up into the sky. "Looks like rain though."

Grey clouds were blocking the view of the sky and a chilly wind had forced them to wear their newfound warm pieces of clothing on top of their own.

"Looks like rain", Hawk agreed, following Lex's gaze. "But could take a few hours before it starts. We should get going."

"Of course, if the weatherfrog says so ..."

That was, of course, Lex again. The others chose to ignore him. Together, they sat up, leaving their new home and walking back to main street. For a while, the feeling of being followed returned.

_It's just Eden_, Hope reminded herself, picturing a scared blonde girl like Hawk had described the mysterious Eden.

Hawk turned around as well. Maybe Eden would actually show herself when she recognized him. However, he didn't really think so. The girl had been too careful, too cautious, and too afraid. Still, he let his gaze wander and for a moment, he thought he'd seen a tiny figure hiding behind some bushes in one of the gardens. Focusing, Hawk turned back, but of course there was nothing and noone. He wasn't even sure he'd seen something. But if there had been someone, it certainly hadn't been Eden. The figure had been much smaller. _A child._ So he might have been right after all. The girl was protecting a kid or maybe a whole family. Probably her siblings since she hadn't seem old enough to have a child that big. But then again he wasn't even sure what he'd seen.

"Hawk?" Falcon asked. "Are you coming?"

The others were waiting for him and he hurried to catch up with them. Soon, they reached the other end of the main street, which also was the end of the tiny village. The houses there were burned-out as well but that didn't came as a great surprise anymore.

"There's another one of those horrible graffiti", Hope pointed out.

Indeed, the side of an old garage had been decorated by the 'evil' tribe again. Dark and gloomy, the painted shark teeth seemed to stare at them. Threatening, mysterious, deadly. A warning that could not have been any clearer.

_Stay away._

Too bad that with Lex, the staying away thing probably wouldn't work. And even without Lex, well – Hawk had a feeling that a run-in with the Sharks was unavoidable at some point. But still, there was no need to rush it. They had one advantage – they knew about the Sharks and they'd been told to stay away from them. Therefore, where Hawk was concerned, that's what they were going to do.

Leaving the creepy little village and it's hidden inhabitants, they didn't encounter the woods again but soon found a little path that led them through fields and meadows. Everything was overgrown and wild, with birds singing and Hawk and Falcon constantly coming across signs that there was indeed a rather big population of wild rabbits and other animals.

"Food!" Falcon said, grinning.

Now if they only had the right tools they could start catching nice meals. Birds were a great meal but not the only delicious thing around here. Hawk had already talked to her about fishing the day before, and now there were rabbits too. If it weren't for the constant threat of the evil Sharks hanging over them, this place was Gaian paradise!

"I also hear water", Hope said, putting the buckets and the basket down with a sigh. Both had become rather heavy during the last hour of wandering about.

"Could be the river", Hawk replied, hearing what she'd heard. "Or at least some smaller stream that leads to the river.

"Either way, it's water", Falcon said. "That's good. We can't have enough water."

"We might as well follow the water", Hawk suggested. "Might lead us somewhere. And right now, I have no idea where we're going. There are only fields and meadows right, left, up front and behind us. I remember seeing lot's of green from up that hill, but …"

"Ah, grasshopper lost his way!" Lee sneered, obviously enjoying this. "But let me tell you, treehugger, that water might lead to a place with people, you know. Everyone needs water so a tribe would probably also chose to go where there's plenty of it. Aren't you afraid there might be evil lurking about somewhere, Hawkie-boy?"

"I'm more afraid to die of thirst, Lexy-boy", Hawk replied, sounding annoyed. "And not everyone is evil. Moana wasn't and neither was Eden. It's just you pissing people off so they get violent and angry or run away."

"Well, your Eden girl didn't seem to want to stick around with you either, did she?" Lex shot back.

"She was scared! She …"

"Ignore him", Falcon impatiently interrupted. "Look up at the sky, it might rain sooner than later. We should get going. And we will be careful. And if it's the city or any dangerous place we'll encounter, we will not enter. But we have to go somewhere and obviously this path here only leads to more fields and meadows."

"We're not really protected here", Hope agreed. "I guess we could hide behind a bush or the high grass but depending on who's coming and how many they are, it's anything but safe. I'd rather have the dark woods surrounding me. Much easier to hide and blend in there."

Falcon nodded and Hawk smiled at both girls. If Lex had been able to spit fire, he would have. Turning around, he pushed Hawk aside.

"Fine, then!" he shouted, throwing his arms up in the air in defeat. "Let's go back and play hug-the-tree then! Let's act like little kids and be scared and hide! If that's what you all want, fine, let's do that!"

"Lex …"

"Stopp 'Lex'ing me, Hope. You want to go and hide behind a tree, let's go and hide behind a tree. Let's play house in the woods and let those Sharks control everything we do. Can't go anywhere, there might be danger, there might be fighting, there might be blood. Yeah, so let's hide. How long? Well, maybe the Sharks will get bored and leave their city and then we can come out. Let's play Eden and hide and be terrified! Sounds absolutely wonderful to me!"

Silence greeted his outburst, then Hope starred down at her dirty old boots, Falcon sighed and Hawk shook his head.

"Look, Lex, I know where you're coming from, I really do. But for now …"

"No. No, you don't know where I'm coming from and you never will!" Lex snapped. "But hey, obviously, you're our glorious leader now so there, Hawk, go ahead and lead us!"

Nobody moved. Nobody said anything.

"I'm waiting!" Lex growled impatiently.

"So do we. For you to cool down and make some sense. But then again, that would be a first", muttered Falcon, more to herself than to anyone else.

Hawk just shook his head. "We're going to find a place to camp out for a while, Lex", he explained, patiently but firm. "And once we've found something suitable we have all the time in the world to explore the area and find out what's going on here. In contrary to what you believe, Lex, I'm not afraid of a fight or a confrontation. But the difference between us is, I'm not looking for one."

Lex laughed at this, glaring at Hawk with anger and frustration and envy. Did that guy ever lose his cool?

"Let's get on with this!" Falcon said, getting louder herself. "I think that was a raindrop just now, landing on my right cheek. And where there's one, there's certainly more of them to come. We're going to get soaking wet – again!"

She'd barely finished her sentence when Hope interrupted her.

"That's already more than one raindrop!"

"Oh, great!" Lex grumbled.

Great indeed. They started running and in that very moment, the sky seemed to open up, pouring down a massive blast of cold rain onto them.

"And this is all your fault, grasshopper!"

Of course, Lex had the last word but nobody bothered to reply. Instead, they just tried to find some sort of cover somewhere.

Great. Just great!


	8. Cold

**Author's Note:** written by my friend _sylverhawk_

They ran across the meadow towards the edge of the woods, but the distance was greater than it looked. When they reached the treeline, they were once again soaking wet, but allowed themselves a brief moment of rest.

"I'm starting to greatly dislike that humidity here", Falcon panted, wiping a wet strand of hair out of her face.

"Guess who else…", Hope muttered, shivering. She didn't mind a warm summer rain shower, but this cloudburst was far from being a summer rain shower. The rain was cold, and to top it off there was a chilly wind picking up as well. Hope slung her arms around herself, trying to get a little warmer. But that didn't help much. Granted, she had wanted to take a shower, but this wasn't exactly what she'd had in mind.

"We need to find us a shelter", Hawk said. "Or build one."

"No really, is that so?"

That was, of course, Lex. He was still pissed, probably more pissed than ever. Find us a shelter, right. In the city, that wouldn't have been a problem, but no, they had to go rambling through the woods again, where they weren't likely to come across anything bearing an uncanny resemblance to anything with a fixed roof on top of it.

"Then go ahead, great leader, find us a shelter!"

"He said, _we_ have to find us a shelter", Falcon growled. "That includes you, Lex!"

"I wasn't talking to you, Mrs Treehugger!", Lex snapped at her.

"But I am talking to you, Lex!", she shot back angrily. "This isn't the time for smartassin' around, dammit! Unless you wanna get drenched again and eventually grow gills, I say we better get moving and find us some place where we'll stay at least somewhat dry!"

"And can we do that rather quick, please?", Hope pleaded, still shivering from the chilly wind. The last thing she wanted right now was a fight between Lex and Falcon, but that was just what seemed to be about to happen. The two of them still glared at each other with obvious annoyance, their arms crossed over their chests, wet strands of hair clinging to their faces.

"When you're done staring each other down, let us know. We gotta keep moving."

That was Hawk, as usual not losing his cool in spite of the fact that at this very moment he was majorly annoyed by Lex's and Falcon's antics. Their bad mood just added up to the bad weather. Unlike Hope he wasn't freezing thanks to the jacket he found, but he knew all too well that this would change sooner than later if they kept standing in the rain as this jacket wasn't as water-repellent as his old one was.

Falcon muttered something unintelligible, shot one last fierce glance at Lex and turned around to march off, following a narrow path through the undergrowth that eventually led them to the small stream they had heard earlier. The others followed her. No one said a word as they all had to concentrate on watching their steps so as not to slip or stumble on the muddy path, so all there was to hear was the wind rustling in the treetops high above them, the rain, the gurgling waters and an occasional chirp from some bird. Monotonous, even for Falcon's ears, so she quickly faded out any background noise and concentrated on any sound that was unusual, a task that turned out to be not as easy as she'd imagined. She was getting a headache, and a bad one at that. Great. What next? If she'd had a kingdom, she would've gladly traded it for a tarp to make a makeshift roof between the trees. But unfortunately she had none.

Hope at the same time would've gladly traded her non-existant kingdom for a warm jacket. She briefly considered wrapping herself up in her blanket, but figured it wouldn't be any good to run through the forest muffled in a wet blanket. Not to mention the fact that a wet blanket wasn't any good in any way. So she tried to keep her blanket as dry as possible instead, which wasn't all too easy though. There was still enough rain finding its way through the treetops, not as much as out in the meadows, but they still got wet, and the cold wind seemed to still pick up. Hope felt like her hair had been plastered to her head, the water dripping down her face and arms and the back of her neck, right under the frills of her shirt.

The longer they marched through the forest, the more and more their journey seemed endless to the four of them. Even Hawk wasn't really feeling comfortable anymore after a while when the rain had finally seeped through his jacket, making the fabric heavy and grating. How long had they been marching? Two hours, or maybe more? Hawk couldn't tell. But he knew it had to be way past midday already. For a moment there, Hawk let his thoughts wander back in time to the days when he was with the Gaians. They'd had tents, huts, roofs over their heads. They'd stayed dry, no matter how much rain the clouds sent down on them. Yes, those were the days. But those days were in the past now. The Gaians were no more. And he had a new tribe. Well, sort of…

He looked back over his shoulder at the three who followed him. Hope was obviously freezing and yearning for any kind of shelter and a campfire to warm up again. Falcon just stared at the ground before her feet, and Lex was evidently still highly disgruntled. Much to everyone's surprise though, he kept quiet, trailing along without constantly moaning about their situation and how much better they'd be off in the city. Hawk wondered how much longer it would be before Lex started his laments again.

All of a sudden the silence between them was broken by a giant sneeze coming from Lex. Falcon jumped at the unexpected noise behind her, and Hope let out a short shriek. They stopped.

"Bless you…", Hawk said, turning around again and looking at Lex, who wiped his nose with the sleeve of his shirt.

"Yeah, right", Lex growled in reply. "I'm wet to the bone, freezing my bottoms off and I'm obviously catching a mighty cold, and guess whose fault that is! So bless my ass, grasshopper!"

Falcon bit back on a comment. She had quite a few ideas about what to do with Lex's ass, and blessing it was definitely not an option, but she kept quiet. She wasn't in the mood to argue now. Her headache was more and more taking a turn for the worse, which wasn't a good sign at all.

"We gotta find us some kind of shelter, and quick…", she just said, her voice sounding lame. She wasn't really keen on marching any further, either, and let her eyes wander around the scenery to find something – anything – they could use as a shelter.

"How about that… cave over there?"

Hope exposed a few inches of goosebumps on her arm and pointed a shivering finger to the other side of the stream, some 50 feet up ahead, where underneath the roots of a giant tree the soil had been dug away, or washed away, creating a cave-like room, its entrance partially protected by a thick bush and thus more or less blocked from view. Hawk nodded.

"Sharp eyes", he said and smiled at Hope. "Let's check it out."

"Oh great! Now we're going from playing house in the woods to playing caveman?" Lex stared unbelievingly from Hawk to the cave and back to Hawk. "Have you lost it?"

"I haven't. And you don't need to come along if you don't want to. I think we've been over that often enough already, haven't we?"

"That thing is going to be way too small for all of us anyway!"

"We won't know if we don't check it out, Lex!"

Saying that, Hawk made his way across the stream, carefully stepping from one stone to the next until he reached the other side. Falcon followed him, but she didn't bother about stepstones, she just waded right through the stream, her eyes pinned to the ground like she was expecting to discover some gold nuggets in the sandy riverbed. Hawk raised an eyebrow. He sensed something was wrong with his girlfriend, something other than just Lex's constant antics. But he knew better than asking her about it right now, as he knew she'd most likely come to him in her own time if she felt he could help her. She always did, eventually. So for the moment, he turned back around and extended a hand to Hope to help her make it across the stream on dry foot. Well, as dry as possible anyway.

"Thanks…" Hope quickly smiled at Hawk, glad to have made it across the stream. She looked ahead towards the cave and hoped almost desperately that it would suit them as a shelter for a while, at least until the rain stopped and the wind died somewhat down. Maybe there'd even be a chance to start a fire and warm up a little.

Hawk turned around once more, now looking at Lex, who was the only one left on the other side of the stream.

"You coming?", he asked, extending a hand to Lex, too.

Lex snarled something unintelligible and glanced at Hawk. What did that treehugger think, that he needed a helping hand to cross that little stream? Hah! Like he was too stupid to step on a few stones…

Two steps later however Lex had to realize it wasn't as easy as it appeared to be. The stones were mossy and slippery, and the one he had tried to set foot on was pretty loose at that, causing him to almost lose his balance and let go of the things he carried. But before Lex could do or say anything, Hawk had already grabbed his arm and pulled him over to the other side. None of them lost a word about it as they followed Hope and Falcon, who had already made their way to the cave.

Falcon had pushed aside some of the bush's branches to peek into the cave. It appeared to be larger than they thought. Not a five star mansion, but there was enough room for the four of them to sit straight. Certainly they'd have to cram, but it would make do. The ground inside the cave was dry, but it didn't look like something – or somebody – had used the cave as a hideout or place to live in a rather long time, which was a good sign, too.

"Looks good…", Falcon finally mumbled und nodded.

"Looks good?" Lex stared at her. "Where the hell does this- thing look good? The wind picks up just a little and that whole tree is going to fall down on us!"

"It won't", Hawk contradicted. "That tree has been standing like this for a long time from the looks of things, and it's still firmly rooted in the soil. It's probably been standing like this since way before any one of us was even born."

"Oh yeah, sure… the tree told you that, huh?"

Falcon sighed, but bit back on a comment once again. Instead, she crawled through the bush and into the cave, spread her blanket on the ground and just sat down on it, closing her eyes. This wasn't exactly what she'd had in mind, either, so she really hoped to find some place they could call home rather soon. Whatever that place might look like. As long as it was peacuful, free of Shark graffiti and outside of any city.

"There are spiders in there", Hope's voice brought her back into reality and slowly she opened her eyes again. Looking up a the ceiling of the cave, she could see some cobwebs and a few small spiders dangling from them. Falcon nodded.

"Yes… some. They won't harm you, though…"

"I know… It's just, well… I don't really like spiders." Hope shrugged awkwardly.

"Are you scared of spiders?"

"Yes. Well, no… I don't know, I just don't like them. They're just- yucky!", Hope replied, shrugging again. Yes, she was scared of spiders, and the pure thought of a spider crawling through her hair sent chills down her spine. It was no secret and Falcon didn't look like she'd make fun of it, and neither did Hawk. And Lex had known about it for a long time anyway.

"Ah, don't worry, babe!", Lex cut in. "I'll take care of that!"

With that, he crawled into the cave and started picking spiders from the ceiling.

"Whatever you do, Lex, do us one favor", Falcon asked, closing her eyes again. "Throw them out, don't kill them…"

"Oh gee, Mrs Treehugger doesn't want to see a poor tiny spider get killed?", Lex mocked her.

"I just don't want you to smack them", Falcon mumbled. "Because if you do, they'll pop open and leak, and we'll have the stuff all over the place."

"Oh, yuck!", Hope squealed upon hearing this, and a highly disgusted look spread across her face. "Throw them out, Lex, please!"

"Okay, okay! Whatever…"

Lex went on about his business of getting rid of the spiders, not without flipping the accidental spider over to Falcon, but much to his disappointment she didn't bother at all. She didn't even seem to notice. About a minute or so later, all spiders were out of the cave and Lex, Hope and Hawk followed Falcon's example, spread parts of their blankets on the ground and squatted side by side of each other in the small cave. There was just about enough room for the four of them plus some of their more delicate belongings they didn't want to get wet. Everything else – the buckets, bottles, cutlery – was hidden in the bushes at the cave's entrance. They managed to get somewhat comfortable, as far as that was possible anyways.

After a while, Hope stopped shivering. She was more than happy to be out of the wind and rain, and now that the four of them were crammed into the small cave they were keeping each other warm, whether that had been their intention or not. Snuggled up between Lex and Falcon, Hope didn't even bother anymore that still none of them smelled like roses and that they were still damp from the rain. All she really wondered was for how long they'd be staying there. And while she was at it, she wondered for how long they'd already been there in their cave. She had lost all sense of time, and the monotonous sound of rain falling onto leaves helped just about as little as the fact that it was pretty dim underneath the huge tree's roots. For all she knew, it could've been some time between midday and nightfall. Her stomach helped her out. It was definitely time to eat something.

Another giant sneeze from Lex tore through the silence, and again Falcon jerked, bumping her head against the ceiling. She groaned. Great. Just what she needed to make her headache worse.

"Hey, it's not my fault that I'm getting a cold here!", Lex snorted when he heard her groan.

"I know, Lex, I know…" She sighed and closed her eyes again. Once again she wished she'd had a kingdom to trade, this time she would've happily given it up for some Aspirin. And maybe a cup of hot milk. Or any other hot drink.

Lex raised an eyebrow. Okay now, something had to be wrong here. No "I'm so much smarter than you are" kind of comment from the birdie girl? No sharp remarks about how him getting a cold was nobody's fault, and even if it was, certainly not her treehugging boyfriend's fault? Now that was a first, and Lex couldn't help but grin.

"What's so funny?", Hope asked upon seeing his grin.

"Oh, nothing… I just realized somebody's not quite up to their usual self here…"

Falcon groaned. Of course, Lex had to jump right at it. She wasn't really surprised. That's why she usually avoided showing any weakness. Somebody would always jump right at it.

"Well yes, Lex, I am not up to my usual self", she bluntly said. "I've got one hell of a headache, if you care, so you're obviously not the only one who the weather got to, and I'd really appreciate if we could leave it at that, okay?"

Not really waiting for a reply, Falcon leaned back again and closed her eyes once more. If she could only get a good night's sleep, everything would be fine again the next morning. Trying to concentrate on something else but her headache, she dozed off, and for a while silence settled on their small camp, only disturbed by Lex's occasional sneeze.

"The rain seems to have stopped", Hawk eventually said. "I guess it's about time I go out and find us something to eat."

"Big idea, grasshopper!", Lex sniffled. "I'm starving!"

"Are you sure you'll find something?", Hope asked. "I mean, it's getting dark, and…"

She stopped, noticing how croaky her voice sounded, and adding up to that she realised her throat was getting pretty sore. Great. So she was getting a cold, too. Hardly surprising, given the circumstances. She still felt like a huge icecube even though she had wrapped herself up firmly in her blanket.

"Don't worry, I'll find something", Hawk answered, unwrapped himself from his blanket and crawled out of the cave. "There's fish a little further downstream. I'll be back soon."

With that he left, making his way around the bush and into the forest, and very soon his steps were indistinguishable from the sound of the wind in the treetops. Falcon curled up in the spot Hawk had vacated, trying to finally get some sleep. Lex snorted.

"There's fish a little further downstream, yeah right", he muttered. "What does he think, the fish are glowing in the dark? And besides, we're not supposed to eat them raw, are we? He'll need to get a fire started, and for the life of me I wouldn't want to miss seeing how he does that with only wet wood around!"

He sneezed again, and Hope sighed.

"Lex, please… can't you at least try not to be so… destructive?", she pleaded. "I'm pretty sure Hawk knows what he's doing and that he doesn't expect us to eat raw fish or anything like that."

She could think of quite a few yucky things to eat, and raw fish was among them. And a fire, well, a fire was what she was right now most yearning for. She tried to cuddle up a little like Falcon had done, wrapping her blanket tighter around her. Lex watched her.

"You freezing?"

What a question. Of course she was freezing. She nodded.

"Mmhm…"

"I could keep you warm, you know…"

Hope turned her head to face Lex.

"Are you trying to hit on me again? You know, because if you are…"

Lex raised his hands in the air as if to surrender, rolling his eyes. Why was she always thinking he was hitting on her? No need to act up or raise a fuss.

"I'm not, babe. No worries, okay? But I see you're freezing, so I thought I'd just offer to keep you warm, that's all there is."

_Oh dear_, Hope thought. _Now he sounds like a good samaritan_. If she hadn't known Lex for so long, she might've bought it. But then again, maybe Lex was indeed meaning it the way he said it. He had his moments every now and then, granted. Those rare moments when he really cared, and not just about himself. When he wasn't scamming, when he wasn't trying to use somebody for his own profit or boss people around. When he wasn't the loud-mouthed, hard-nosed macho he wanted people to think of him as. Those very rare moments when he let his guard a little down and let somebody peek behind his husky shell. Maybe this was one of those moments. With Lex, you never really knew.

Lex still watched her. No, this time he really wasn't trying anything. He could see Hope was freezing in her damp clothes, and he wanted to change that. It was bad enough he was getting sick, and even though it most likely was too late to prevent it, he didn't want her to get sick, too. After all, she was his last remaining friend. She'd always been there for him, no matter what, even when everyone else had walked off of him. He would've never openly admitted it – especially not with Hawk or Falcon around – but he didn't want to lose her and he didn't want to see anything bad happen to her.

"Well… okay then", Hope finally gave in and moved a little closer to Lex. He put his arms around her, wrapping his blanket around both of them. It helped, she couldn't deny that. Still a little hesitant she leaned her head against Lex's shoulder and tried to relax.

When Hawk returned it was almost dark, there was just about enough light so he could see where he was going. He had been successful, catching some fish and even finding some useful herbs, dry firewood and tinder. Now he walked around the bush and peeked into the cave.

"You alright?", he asked.

"Yeah… we're freezing, sneezing and starving, so I guess we're doing mighty fine in here", Lex's voice came out of the darkness.

"You're still alive", Hawk replied matter-of-factly. "So, you're doing better than quite a few other people."

Smirking in the dark, Hawk began to prepare the firesite, carefully arranging a stone circle and piling up twigs and tinder. It wasn't long before that typical crackle was audible and a small fire lit up the darkness around them. Hope and Lex unwrapped themselves from their blanket and came closer. Where there was fire, there was warmth, and that was what they needed now. Maybe there was even a chance to get their clothes dry again.

"So, what's for dinner?", Lex inquired, eyeing the bucket and the small pouch that Hawk had brought back.

"Grilled fish", Hawk answered while spearing his catch on long sticks to roast them over the open fire.

"And what's all that green fuzz in the pouch?"

"Plants and herbs. I think we'll need them sooner or later…"

"To make us a nice salad, right", Lex grunted, but Hawk shook his head.

"No, Lex… at least not necessarily. Those are medicinal herbs and plants. Plantain, camomile, willow bark, wild fennel."

"You're going to make medicine?"

Hope was instantly alert. Her throat was still sore and it didn't seem to get better, so she hoped that Hawk knew some sort of natural remedy. He nodded, carefully watching the fire and the fish.

"That is my plan, yes. Like I said, I'm pretty sure we can all use it rather soon…"

He looked at Hope and Lex, and Hope nodded. Lex however didn't seem to be so convinced and snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Great, grasshopper… Let me tell you what, I'm sure as hell not going to munch away on this… whatever bark!"

"It's willow bark", Hawk rectified him.

"And you won't have to munch away on it", came Falcon's voice from behind them when she came crawling out of the cave and squatted down at the fireplace. "Unless you have a headache, that is. The sap from the willow bark is full of salicin, which is a natural painkiller of sorts… Tastes awful, but it does the job."

She looked at Hawk with an awry smile, thankful that he brought something back to rid her of her headache. Then she turned her head back towards Lex.

"You'll be better off with the wild fennel and the camomile… They'll make a nice tea."

"Yeah, I bet they will", Lex huffed, but right now he was way more keen on the grilled fish than on any tea.

They ate in silence, enjoying the fire's warmth for as long as they could, but eventually it was time to put out the fire and get some sleep, so they crawled back into the cave and cuddled up in their blankets. It wasn't very long before a well known sound tore through the silence…


	9. The Allotments

**Author's Note: **Co-written by my friend _Sylverhawk_

When Hope woke up the next morning, she felt like she hadn't slept at all. Although she'd felt a bit warmer snuggling up to Lex, it was the noise that had kept her awake for most of the night. Not the noise of the rain because that she'd already learned to ignore. But the noise of Lex snoring away was something she just hadn't been able to ignore.

Lex was still asleep and right now, he wasn't even snoring. But now it was morning already and the daylight could be seen through the opening of their little cave. Lex wasn't snoring anymore but there was no way Hope could fall asleep now!

She stretched and tried to get away from him. He didn't move a bit. Lifting her head, she saw Falcon and Hawk snuggling up together as well. Both of them were not moving.

"Ugh", she muttered to herself, sitting up straight. Her back hurt, as did every other bone in her body. But at least her clothes were more or less dry again, as was her hair, although it probably needed a good brush.

"Morning", someone else said and then Hawk smiled at her, slowly opening his eyes. "It seems like the rain has stopped."

Indeed. Hope had been so busy thinking that now just as Lex had finally stopped snoring the morning had started that she hadn't been paying attention to the weather outside. She listened hard but couldn't hear any rain or wind outside.

Hawk grinned at her. "Looks like we're lucky just this once", he said. "Seems like the sun's out, too."

"That's great!" Hope allowed herself to enjoy the thought of a bit of warmth and sunshine for a minute or two. Then she sighed. "Now if I'd just feel a bit more awake …"

"Been sleeping next to a sawmill, have you?" Hawk laughed.

"I think we all have." That was Falcon, first opening one eye, then the other. Carefully, the girl sat up straight and started to stretch.

"Well, it's not this fault", Hope tried to defend the living sawmill. "He's got a rather bad cold and it's no wonder he does. We've been more wet than dry these days, if you ask me."

"Still, it's annoying", Falcon grumbled, making up her mind right there not to have her future sleeping quarters anywhere near Lex. The guy wasn't only snoring when he was sick, he was snoring everytime he closed his eyes! Well, not as bad as he had this very night, but bad enough.

"How are you two feeling, anyway?" Hawk asked, trying to change the subject. They'd have to deal with Lex for the reminder of the day, so now that he was still sleeping peacefully Hawk wanted to spend some time without thinking or talking about Lex.

"Still a bit of a headache but I've had worse." Falcon sighed. "I'm going to live, I guess. Although I have to agree with Hope. I'm feeling pretty damn tired."

"My throat's sore", Hope told them. "And my nose keeps running as well. I don't feel too strong, but …"

"Will you be strong enough to carry on our journey?" Hawk wanted to know. Hope always looked a bit pale, but this morning more than usual. Or maybe it was just the dim light in the cave. However, if Hope didn't feel well enough there was no point trying to move on.

"I guess …" Hope shrugged. "I won't say no to a few more breaks than usual, though."

"I think we all would welcome that", Falcon agreed, slowing putting away her blanket and trying to disentangle her hair. "We all seem to have catched a stupid cold one way or the other. And don't try to tell me you don't, Hawk. I've heard you surpressing a sneeze just a few minutes ago!"

Hawk nodded. He'd tried to keep it together for everyone's sake but he did feel weaker than usual, more tired. Still, getting sick now just wouldn't do. They were stuck in the middle of the woods and they had to find some sort of a proper shelter soon. There was no way in telling how the weather would be later that day.

"Oh, look!" Falcon suddenly exclaimed, grinning. "Sleeping Beauty over there's waking up!"

Immediately, all eyes were on Lex who opened his eyes now, looking blankly at their surroundings for a moment. Then, the memory seemed to come back.

"Oh, great!" he groaned, pushing an untidy strand of dirty black hair out of his face.

"Yeah, so nice to see you again, Lexy!" Falcon rolled her eyes at him.

"And here we go again", Hawk muttered and, sensing that the peace and quiet was truly over now, getting up on his feet. He handled out the berries that were left from yesterday's dinner.

Lex didn't say much at all, which was kind of surprising. He just grabbed the berries and ate them, then sank back, wrapping the blanket around him once more, wiping his nose with the back of his hand.

"Are you alright, Lex?" Hope asked, sounding worried.

"Yeah … yeah I'm fine", he replied back. "Just a bit tired. Stupid cold! If we'd gone to the city …"

"We'd still have ended up with a cold since the city is even further away and we'd still be on the road", Falcon finished his sentence, getting up on her feet as well, dragging her blanket with her out of the little cave.

"Whatever."

"Lex doesn't seem like himself at all", Hope whispered, dragging her blanket out of the cave as well, standing in the morning sun and enjoying the fresh air. The ground was muddy but the sky was of a clear blue without showing any clouds. It looked like it was going to be a really beautiful day!

"Let's enjoy those rare moments of peace and quiet, then", Falcon suggested. "I'm too tired for fighting as well. What we need is a proper shelter, secure and dry, and a good night's sleep without a living sawmill next to us. That and a bit of food and a hot drink and we'll have plenty of energy again!"

"And how do we get all that?" Hope wondered. Talking about it was easy but it also made Hope longing for a lot of things that they might not have at the end of the day.

"Well, I can get us some food and I can make some sort of herbal tea or soup with the stuff I've found us yesterday", Hawk said, stepping forward. He still felt tired and would have rather spend a few more hours lying on the ground in a warm blanket but it couldn't be helped. He had to go out and get something to eat or nobody would have any energy at all.

While Lex was still in the cave, Hawk went off, disappearing behind some trees. Hope got the bottles and one of the buckets and went down to the stream to fill them all, using the cold and clear water to tidy herself up a bit as well. Falcon started to gather some wood for the fire and when Hawk returned with more berries, roots and a rather small bird, both he and Falcon got to work with preparing breakfast.

None of them were too hungry that morning which was probably due to the sickness that was going around. Hope found herself chewing on some kind of root but barely tasting what she was eating. It just didn't have any flavour at all. She forced herself to try a bit of the bird but felt like puking after a few bites. So in the end, she forced down a few berries and tried to drink lot's of water.

"Well, we better save the rest for later", Hawk said, seeing that nobody really had any appetite. "It's no good to waste precious food in puking it all out again. Let's try the tea I've made and then pack up camp."

Indeed, Hawk had used one of the buckets to heat up some water and put all sorts of leaves and roots into the mix. It didn't look too delicious to Hope and neither did it taste that way. But Hope was willing to try everything to get better so she followed Falcon's and Hawk's example and gulped it all down. But not so Lex.

"I'm not drinking _that_!" he exclaimed, putting the bucket down with a shudder. "What are you trying to do, grasshopper, poisoning us all?"

"It will help you to get better, Lex!" Hawk tried to reason patiently.

"Forget it! I'm not drinking that! And that is final!" Lex snapped back.

"It's the sort of drink Tai-san would have made for you", Hope tried another approach while tying her blanket back together.

But this only got her a fierce stare and angry scowl and then Lex kicked away the bucket which flew right over some bushes on which Hawk's herbal tea ended up being spilled.

"Great!" Finally, Hawk seemed to lose his temper for a bit but then apparently decided that either Lex wasn't worth it or that he was feeling to worn down himself to start a heated argument with Lex.

"Let's get a move on", he just said, turning his back on Lex while Hope, feeling responsible because she'd mentioned Tai-san, went to collect the bucket from behind the bushes.

They packed up and went further along the stream, following Hawk's lead. Not even Lex complained about that this time. In fact, he was the last one to follow, barely speaking a word, which was very unusual for him indeed.

Around midday Falcon felt like they'd been walking for ages although that wasn't possible. But they had been a lot slower than usual and a lot quieter, too. Hope was asking for a break quiet often but none of the others minded. They all were glad to have a few minutes to sit down and mumble on a few berries and drink some water. She hated to admit it but Falcon felt exhausted.

"As much as I hate to say this but we need to keep going", Hawk reminded them after a little while. "We need some sort of a shelter and …"

Lex sneezed loudly, then sighed and made no sign of getting ready to continue their journey.

Hope took his arm. "Lex, we need to keep going", she whispered. She felt bad enough already for having to ask for a break so often and now Lex kept making a fuss by not wanting to get up moving again.

"Oh, leave me alone!" he grumbled. "Just five more minutes, okay? I don't feel so good right now."

Putting her hand on his cheek, Hope looked up at the others, feeling rather alarmed. "Ummm, I think Lex has kind of a temperature", she stated.

"No, I don't!" he snapped, pushing her hand away. "I just need a proper rest, that's all!"

Falcon appeared next to him, touching his other cheek. "Definitely a temperature", she then agreed. "Nothing to worry about yet, but it explains why Mr Macho here's so bearable today."

"Shut up!"

"Don't fight!" Hope interrupted them, sounding alarmed. "Lex, you have to get up, this is serious! You could catch a fever and god knows what! We all could! We need a shelter, now more than ever! I don't care what it is we're going to come across next but whatever it is, I say we stay and try to get healthy again before we do anything else!"

The others exchanged looks. It wasn't often that shy little Hope spoke like that but it made them all see the urgency of the matter. Hope was right. They had to find a place now!

"Come on, let's keep moving!" Hawk urged them, taking some of Lex' stuff to carry for him. He didn't do it for Lex, but it would help them to move along quicker.

"You don't think …" Hope bit her lip, suddenly sounding very worried. "I mean, it could be anordinary cold but … I mean, what if we've brought the second virus with us?"

Shocked silence greeted that question, then Hawk shock his head. "No way. I mean … this just feels like a normal cold …"

"I've had the first virus, remember?" That was Lex, followed by a whole series of sneezes. "This doesn't feel anything like it. And I haven't aged, have I?"

"Well, no …" Hope still sounded worried. "But the second virus is a mutation of the first one. There's no guarantee it would start the same or have the same symptoms."

"Hope, don't drive yourself crazy!" Falcon interrupted sharply. She didn't want Hope to go on about the virus. For her sake, as well as for Falcon's own sake. If this was the virus they'd all die. And Falcon didn't want to die, nor did she want any of the others to die, not even Lex. If this was the second virus, then all they'd been through since that fateful day in the city when the other Mallrats had to leave them behind – that would all have been for nothing! No, it wasn't supposed to end like this! Falcon gritted her teeth. Whatever came their way, Falcon wouldn't go down without a fight!

However … nobody could fight the virus, could they?

"Where's grasshopper gone to?" Lex suddenly interrupted her thoughts, along with another sneeze that nearly made her jump out of her skin.

That was a good question. All three of them kept looking around but Hawk was nowhere to be found. There was a narrow, overgrown path leading into some sort of wilderness with stinging nettles nearly as tall as a human being and bushes and trees covering something that might have been some sort of a fence once.

"Is that a fence?" Lex asked, lifting his eyebrows.

"I think so", Hope replied, stepping closer

"It's more than a fence." Suddenly, Hawk appeared out of the wilderness, smiling at them. "Come here, guys! This might just be what we're looking for!"

„What are you talking about, grasshopper? We're not exactly looking for a fence, are we?", Lex sneered.

"Lex, where there's a fence, there's most likely something behind it, remember?", Falcon groaned. Even sick, Lex's attitude hadn't changed too much. Questioningly, she looked at Hawk. "What is it?"

"I'd suppose it's the allotments Moana told us about", Hawk answered. "From a first glance, it looks like it's uninhabited."

"Yeah, so did that village", Lex grumbled.

"So it did", Falcon agreed matter-of-factly. "I still think there's a better chance that we won't come across anybody here, but we won't find out if we don't explore."

With that, she turned around to the tiny path Hawk had found, intending to climb over the fence. The stinging nettles were annoying, but she didn't plan on letting them hold her back.

"Hey, birdie-girl!", she heard Lex's voice from behind. "Where there's a fence, there's a gate somewhere, huh?"

"I know there is! But it's easier to find from the inside, and honestly I don't feel like walking around the premises to look for a gate anymore. Do you? Or are you coming?"

The commotion behind her told her that the others were following her. Seconds later they all stood before the fence, which was approximately eight feet high and made from steel wiring. Twigs and branches from the nearby bushes and trees had grown through every opening, which camouflaged the fence pretty well. It also blocked pretty much all view to what was on the other side. They looked at each other, then at the fence, then back at each other.

"I'll scout!", Hawk and Falcon said in unison, then looked at each other.

"Great…", Lex groaned. "Whatever happened to 'One of us should stay behind with Lex and Hope', huh?"

"Still goes…", Falcon said. "Don't worry about that."

She could see Lex rolling his eyes as she questioningly looked at Hawk.

"So… you or me?" Grinning wrily, she added: "And let's not draw sticks, okay?"

Hawk nodded. "I'll go."

Falcon didn't contradict. "Alright… I'll give you a lift. And if you're not back in about ten minutes…"

"Don't worry. I'll be back."

With that, Hawk climbed up the fence and jumped down on the other side of it. Three pairs of eyes now rested on the twigs and branches that covered the fence as they could only hear Hawk walk away on the other side. Then, all there was was silence, only disturbed by the occasional bird singing in the trees somewhere. Hope sighed and wrapped her arms around herself.

"I hope Hawk will be back soon", she said. "And with good news."

"I'm sure he will", Falcon tried to reassure her. "I'm pretty sure this place is what we're looking for, where we can stay for at least the next days."

"And what on earth makes you so goddamn sure about that, birdie-girl?", Lex barked. "Everywhere else you see danger lurking, you see Sharks and what not, but this rotten neck of the woods you think is safe? So would you please tell me why exactly?"

"I have a hunch…", Falcon replied, leaning against the fence.

"A… HUNCH?" Lex stared at her as if he couldn't believe his ears. "You have a bloody hunch, for crying out loud? Based on what?"

"Based on what I observed before the virus." Unlike Lex, Falcon wasn't losing her cool just the slightest bit. Noticing the questioning look on Hope's face, she explained: "Before the virus, almost all of those who owned or leased such allotments were elder people from the cities. They wanted to get out, care for a garden, grow some fruit and vegetables, just as a hobby, as a pastime. With the following generations, interest in that kind of freetime activity diminished, and city kids usually didn't know anything about those allotments, their locations and everything. So my hunch is, that since those who knew about these allotments didn't survive the virus, this place might still be untouched. We might find us a roof over our heads here, plus something to eat."

"And what if you're wrong?", Lex cut in sharply.

"Then I'll stand corrected."

"Oh great, you'll stand corrected…"

The look on Lex's face spoke volumes. _Stand corrected, yeah right_, he thought, knowing that would only mean they'd have to march on with no roof over their heads and hardly any food left.

"You bet, if you stand corrected, our next stop will be the city, whether you and your treehugging boyfriend like it or not!", he stated firmly. "Because if you two can't get us a roof over our heads, I will! You've had your chance!"

"That's a deal."

Falcon nodded, much to both Lex's and Hope's surprise. She wasn't keen on any further discussion with Lex, and if he kept quiet now, that "deal" was worth a try. Nonetheless, she almost desperately hoped her hunch would prove to be true and the allotments were uninhabited…

Inside the fence, Hawk had to make his way through some trees and thick undergrowth, before he reached what used to be a nice gravel path, but where by now patches of grass and wild flowers grew between the gravel. Bordered by small boulders, the path looked like nobody had set foot on it for quite a while, and so did the grass on both sides of the path and the hedges that surrounded the scenery. Nicely trimmed, the scenery could've been a hobby gardener's pride, but it was obvious that all hobby gardeners died from the virus. Birds sang somewhere high up in the trees, but other than that, no sound was to be heard, and unlike in the village, Hawk didn't feel like he was being watched or followed. Still he thoroughly scanned the area for any sign of life, be it human or animal.

Walking around the next corner, Hawk spotted a couple of log cabin style huts with caved in roofs, but it was obvious that nature that had taken its toll here, no rampaging tribes had destroyed the small houses. On the other side of the path, some old caravans stood on the grass, their tires flat, but apart from that apparently in rather good shape. He walked closer to inspect the first one, peeking through the windows to get a glimpse of what's inside. Although the window was dirty, he could see through the glass and the drapes and found the interior to be quite tidy and intact, yet it kind of looked like a window to the past. Nobody had been in there for years. The door was locked, but Hawk would've bet his life on Lex being able to pick that lock, so he didn't bother to try. Instead, he walked on, passing a few more caved in huts before finally reaching one with its roof still where it belonged. Sitting in a small yard, wild flowers and weeds had the cabin completely surrounded, but Hawk quickly spotted not just edible berries, but also salad and potatoes that had grown wildly over the years. He was sure that had anyone been living around here, they would've harvested all that. Another good sign. And to top it off, there was an apple and a pear tree in the backyard, both in full fruit.

Deciding he had seen enough, Hawk made his way back to where he had crossed the fence and where the others were waiting. Climbing up the fence, he looked down on them with a smile.

"So?", Falcon asked kind of impatiently.

"The place is safe… and it's perfect!", Hawk answered.

"That's what I wanted to hear!" A broad grin spread across Falcon's face as she motioned to Hope and Lex to come closer. "Then let's get over there and get us a roof over our heads!"

One after the other they handed their belongings up to Hawk and over the fence, before climbing over it themselves. Landing on the other side, Hope looked around.

"It looks… nice…", she said.

"It's just more woods", Lex growled as all he was surrounded by was trees.

"There's a path over there", Hawk explained. "Follow me."

With that, he led them through the trees and to the path, ever towards the caravans and the cabins.


	10. Exploring

For a while, they forgot about hunger and about being dirty. They all were exciting about the idea of entering an area where nobody had set foot in ever since the virus. It was something they hadn't seen in a while and hadn't expected to stumble across ever. Usually, whatever new place they came across, someone had been there before, destroyed half of it and took everything that had been worth taking. But not here.

"It's great, is it?" Hawk said, smiling. "Almost everything seems to be still intact."

"Just imagine what we will find here!" Hope nodded, now showing more energy than she had all day. "Maybe even food and clean clothes and, who knows, even shampoo."

"Now you sound like Gel", Falcon grinned. "But don't worry, I get where you're coming from. We need to get ourselves cleaned up soon. Those 'new' clothes are starting to smell already, too."

"Food! The most important thing is food!" Lex exclaimed, followed by some loud sneeze. "And a place for the night."

"Everything looks clean, so that should not be a problem", Hawk interjected. "Well, dusty, of course, but not destroyed, broken and disgusting. We could stay here at least until we're feeling better again. Of course we'd have to check the whole area first. What seems like paradise can easily turn out to be the opposite. But honestly, I think we should be safe here. For now, and maybe even for longer."

"That sounds great!" Hope smiled. "I'd love to stay in one place for a while, not having to bother with security and keeping watch and being hungry and thirsty and dirty and on the run all the time."

"Same for me", Falcon agreed. "This place looks perfect. I'm all for staying for a while and getting some well-deserved rest. And no constant talk about going off into the city!" She threw Lex a sharp glance.

He glanced back, followed by another sneeze. "Believe it or not, for once I'm actually agreeing with you", he then said. "All I want right now is a pillow and a blanket and a good night's sleep without any cold or rain."

Surprised, Falcon looked at him. Well, apparently sick Lex was much easier to get along with than healthy Lex.

"Well, if even Lex agrees, then we should try to make this work", Hawk grinned, ignoring Lex' annoyed glances in his direction. "Let's check out the area and the cabins and the caravans. I'm sure exploring the allotments will be worth it."

"I used to go camping when I was younger", Hope told them, hurrying along behind them. "Maybe there are some cookers that work with batteries, like we had in the early days at the mall. Maybe there are even some spare batteries! Or gas bottles. Camping cookers and heaters often work with gas. And maybe …"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves", Hawk warned her, grinning. "We should check the area first, to make sure it's secure."

But for the first time ever, the was overruled. Hope wasn't the only one who wanted to start exploring the cabins and caravans as soon as possible. Lex and Falcon were right there with her. And truth be told, so was Hawk.

"Let's check everything out!" Lex urged them. "Maybe will find some cans of food. I can't believe I'm actually saying this but I'd love some nice beans and tomatoes and soup and …"

"Again, let's not try to get ahead of ourselves!" Hawk reminded him while wondering at the same time how anyone could actually be all smiles about tin food when they could have some roasted bird or grilled fish instead. But then again, there was nothing wrong with having a variety of things to eat. And for once in a while it would be nice to just sit down and enjoy some good food instead of having to go hunting and preparing first.

"And here we go", he finally announced. "That's the first of the cabins, although this one's roof is damaged. The next one's more or less intact, I think."

They all walked closer. While Hawk and Falcon still kept their eyes open for unwelcome surprises, Lex didn't really bother with it anymore. This couldn't be trap. Nobody would go to so much trouble keeping the allotments all 'old world intact' just to catch a few strays that were wandering around.

"They even have rain barrels next to them", Hope noticed. "We could clean them up and use them to catch rain water. It does seem to rain a lot here. More than back on our part of the island."

Sure enough, there was a big blue barrel next to both of the wooden cabins, but both of them were overgrown with all sorts of stuff. If any water had managed to get in there at all lately, it probably wasn't exactly clean, considering all the leaves and other green stuff that most likely had ended up in the barrels as well.

"Well, at least that would be a better purpose for the stupid rain than making us all wet and sick", Lex growled. He kept looking around. "Hey, do you want to split? Let's all check out something. That way we'll be much faster."

Falcon shrugged. "Fine with me", she said. "I'm longing to explore the insides of one of this cabins. This one looks like nobody has been in here for years. I'm wondering what treasures we might find."

"I'm going to have a look at one of these caravans", Hope announed, turning to the other side of the path.

"I tried to open one of the doors, but it was locked", Hawk warned her.

"Leave that to me", Lex immediately said, just like Hawk had thought he would. "You two take a look at the cabins, and me and Hope are going to explore the caravans. They look more intact than most of the houses I've seen since the virus started."

"That's because they are", Hawk agreed. "I don't think anyone had been in here for years. It's dusty and everything but still in better shape than any of those old houses we've seen in the deserted village."

"Well then, let's try the lock", Lex interruped impatiently and walked over to the nearest caravan, followed by Hope.

Falcon lifted her eyebrows. "I haven't seen Lex like this for … I don't know, ever. Apparently someone's in a really good mood today, despite having a cold and everything."

Hawk smiled at her. "I think we all needed a bit of hope after the last few days. And discovering this little paradise here, well, I think it gave all of us our hope for the future, or at least the next few days, back. You saw Hope's reaction as well. Smiles, ideas, excitement. Not the tired girl that asked for a break every other minute earlier."

"I know." Falcon smiled as well. "And I hate to admit it but even I wouldn't say no to a nice bed and a can of beans."

The two of them walked closer towards the cabin that seemed to be more or less intact. In front of it, everything was overgrown with weeds. There were thick vines in front of the dirty windows as well, which wasn't necessarily bad because it had proven to be sort of a protection for the windows from the elements.

"Well, let's hope we get lucky", Hawk grinned. "But we need to find water around here somewhere as well. We can't walk for miles every day to fetch water, and the water in the barrels might not be suitable enough for drinking."

"There has to be water around here!" Falcon insisted. "Back in the old days, the people kept their little gardens here which had to be watered. And in dry periods the rain barrels wouldn't have helped much."

"Well, if there's water, we're going to find it", Hawk assured her. He turned around to see Lex fiddling with the door of one of the caravans while Hope was waiting next to him patiently. Both of them seemed more happy and relaxed than they had before.

Falcon now stepped towards the front door of one of the cabins. "Are you coming?" she asked him. "I'm dying to see what's inside!"

„So am I", Hawk answered, still smiling. "I just thought we might let Lex prove his lockpicking skills at this door, too. I think he could use a little… well, ego boost. You know, feel like we couldn't go on without him."

Now Falcon couldn't help but chuckle.

"Geez, you're bad, you know that? But you've got a point there, and honestly, I think we really need him, because my lock picking skills leave something to be desired… At least if we want to keep the door intact."

She turned around to the caravan, where Lex had already successfully picked the lock and was about to follow Hope inside.

"Hey Lex", she called out to him. "Do you have a second?"

"What is it, birdie-girl?", Lex called back.

"We could use your help here. Could you open that door for us, please?"

Raising an eyebrow, Lex came over to the cabin where Falcon and Hawk waited for him. He looked at the lock, then at Falcon.

"Sooo… you're saying you can't pick that tiny lock and need my help?"

Falcon nodded. "That's what I'm saying. I could open the door, but then, well, then it would stay open for good, if you know what I mean. You're the one with the lockpicking skills around here, thus we're asking for your help."

Lex grinned broadly like the morning sun.

"Don't worry, good old Lex is helping you out! Or in…"

He started fiddling around with the lock and a piece of wire – wherever he had gotten it from – and just seconds later the door swung open.

"Et voila!", he proclaimed.

"Thanks Lex", Hawk said. "I guess now we owe you one!"

"I'll remind you of that, grasshopper! And now, excuse me, I'll have to check up on Hope and see if she can make this caravan a little homey for us…"

With that, he walked back over to the caravan and followed Hope inside. At the cabin, Falcon peeked through the now open door.

"Well then, let's see what we've got here!"

She entered the cabin. It was dim inside, thanks to the vines that blocked the windows, but not so dim that they couldn't see the details. Right upon entering they found themselves in a comparatively large room, which seemed to be the main room. In one corner there was a dinner table with chairs and a bench, in the next corner there was a fireplace, which had obviously also served the previous owners as a stove since there was a kettle and a small pot standing on it. Falcon threw a look into the pot.

"Phew… thanks heavens, it ain't alive!"

She took the pot and put it into the sink, which amazingly was also just dusty, but otherwise clean. Next she opened the cupboard underneath the sink, which turned out to be quite well equipped with more pots, pans and kettles. The next cupboard held an assortment of canned food and some jars of homemade jam and honey.

"So, breakfast is secured…", she stated smiling.

"And so is a good night's sleep, I'd say!"

Hawk had pulled aside a large curtain which, as it turned out, separated a sleeping niche from the rest of the room. The bed he found there was large and covered tidily by a bedspread. It was covered in a layer of dust so you could hardly make out the embroidery on it, flowers and vines, and carefully Hawk pulled it aside. Underneath, the sheets were clean as were the blankets and pillows.

"Just what I wanted to hear!"

Falcon crossed the room until she reached the bed and carefully sat down on it, testing if it was still sound and wouldn't give way under their weight. It didn't, and letting out a relieved sigh Falcon got back on her feet again.

"Beautiful! It feels like ages since I could last park my butt on a nice clean, cosy mattress. And I guess if I sit here for another minute, I'll just fall asleep and won't wake up before next week or so. But there's still some exploration to do, right?"

She grinned, as Hawk nodded.

"Indeed there is, as much as I'd love to just lie down and sleep, too. But before we do that I think we better find us some water and wood for the fireplace."

Opening what seemed to be the only other door inside the cabin, Hawk found a small bathroom with just a shower, a small sink and a toilet.

"Well… we might be able to get the shower working again somehow, using rainwater", he suggested. "Although I'd be perfectly alright with just taking a bath in a lake or stream, if we find one."

"So would I, but who knows, if we stay here for longer, maybe even forever, an indoor shower wouldn't be too bad either. And look at that…" Falcon grinned. "There's even a bottle of shampoo Hope's been so desperately wanting to find!"

"I wonder if she found one in that caravan, too…"

"Yeah, so do I. And now… just give me some clean clothes and I'd be in heaven! I think I'm still having some sand in my boots and who knows where else…" Falcon made a face, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "But that looks like a wardrobe over there, let's check it out!"

She walked over to the last remaining cabinet door that was left unopened, and yanked it open. Looking inside, she let out a squeal before Hawk could even follow her.

"Clean socks! Look at that, Hawk! Dry, clean socks! Gosh, how long has it been since luck was on our side?"

Not waiting for a reply, she grabbed a pair of socks out of the closet, squatted down on the floor and untied her boots. When she kicked one after the other off her feet, grains of sand, small twigs and lumplets of mud fell on the floor with them. Groaning, she looked at her socks. Damp, dirty, wearing thin at the heels. She couldn't even remember their original color. Plus, thanks to the damp socks, her feet were getting cold, so Falcon hurried to get rid of them and put on the dry ones.

"Now I'm feeling better", she sighed. "If we can get this fireplace started, I might even be able to dry my boots over night."

"Yeah, let's see if we can find some wood", Hawk said after grabbing himself a clean and dry shirt out of the closet and putting it on. "There's probably a shack of firewood behind the house! And then we better check the area for water. There might be a well or something here."

"Hopefully there is", Falcon nodded and put her boots back on. "Thinking about it, I'm pretty thirsty by now."

She got back on her feet, looking around in the small cabin. In her eyes, it was perfect. Small, but clean, with a fixed roof overhead, food… something she wouldn't mind calling her new home. Turning back towards Hawk, she looked up at her boyfriend.

"What do you think?", she asked, almost whispering. "Could this become our new home?"

Knowing that look in his girlfriend's eyes, Hawk knew she was longing to settle down somewhere. For more than a year now, she'd done a lot of travelling, searching for her missing sister. She'd already been on the road for months when they first met in the city, and when they finally left the mall to go back to the eco tribe, they had continued the search together from there. Many a night had they spent outdoors, somewhere in the woods or out on the plains, but they had always returned to the eco camp, which was their home. But that home was no more, and the last weeks had been even more exhausting and draining than the entire year before that. And truth be told, Hawk too would've given a lot to find a new place to call home, to settle down and get a normal routine of life back. As normal as it could get in this world, anyway. He smiled and put his arms around Falcon, pulling her close.

"If this place is as safe as we think it is, I sure wouldn't mind staying", he said lowly, hugging her gently. "Everything we need seems to be right here, and of all the places we've seen yet, this is definitely the top spot to stay."

"I wonder if the others think so, too", Falcon mumbled, leaning against Hawk with her eyes closed. "I can imagine Hope might like it here, but I bet Lex won't be too enthusiastic about staying here for good. Too much nature, too little action… and most likely too much us."

Hawk smirked at her words. Yes, Lex definitely wouldn't be founding a "Hawk and Falcon fan club" to save his life, there was no doubt about that.

"But I have to admit I'd hate breaking up with them", Falcon continued. "Somehow… I've grown fond of them. Both of them."

"So have I", Hawk admitted. "Even though Lex is doing his best to make it hard for people to like him, but he does have his qualities."

Now Falcon was smirking.

"Indeed he has, though you gotta trick him into showing them sometimes… I think Hope is right, he's a good guy underneath the rough shell. And after all we've been through together, we're like a tribe already."

Then there was a moment of silence. None of them said a word as they were just enjoying the moment in each others arms, the first one in what seemed like ages.

"We should get out there and be exploring, shouldn't we?", Falcon finally murmured, not moving an inch.

"Yeah, we should", Hawk answered lowly, but didn't move either.

Another few minutes passed, then Falcon opened her eyes again, looking up at Hawk.

"Well then… We better get going, before it's getting dark and we can't explore anything around here anymore. Let's see what Hope and Lex found in that caravan!"

She took his hand, and together they left the cabin and walked over to the caravan.

Meanwhile, with talent and, well, violence, Lex had forced the door to the caravan open. The smell inside made both him and Hope step back in disgust, allowing the fresh air in first.

"Well, certainly not the nicest smell in the world", Hope muttered. "This place hasn't been properly aired for years."

They waited for a moment longer before they finally stepped into the caravan. It wasn't very big and had most likely been used by an elderly couple to spend their weekends. But it was a lovely place for two people with a seating area right next to the door which could also be turned into another bed, a kitchen area in the middle and a big bed in the rear. There was also a small door that probably led into a tiny bathroom.

"Well, looks a lot nicer than where I grew up", Lex commented, looking around. The bed was properly made and the linens and bedsheets looked dusty, but they were otherwise clean and without holes. There were even a few pillows. It all looked very comfortable, and suddenly Lex wasn't in the mood for exploring anymore, he just wanted to lie down and take a nap. He hadn't been able to do that in ages.

"I hope there aren't any spiders in here", Hope commented, carefully eying the darker corners and shifting a pillow in the seating area to look behind it.

Lex yawned. "I'll throw them out if there are any", he offered, taking a seat in the bed. Then he spotted the little fridge that belonged to the kitchen area and immediately got up again, yanking the little door open.

"Ewww!"

"What is it, Lex?" Hope asked who'd just considered trying to open one of the storage boxes beneath the seating area.

"Think milk that's five years behind it's due date, think something that's probably been jam once and well … just think of a fridge that hasn't been used for years."

"Considering the heat in this closed space during the hot summer days … no, I really don't want to think about all that." Hope made a face. "But isn't there anything useable in there?"

"If you want to go through the contents of that fridge, be my guest. Me, I'm done here." Lex firmly closed the door and turned to the little cupboard next to the fridge. It's contents brought a big smile to his face.

"I take it we'll be having beans for dinner tonight?" Hope grinned, watching him. She liked it when Lex was in a good mood which was seldom enough.

"Beans, and almost everything one could want." Lex started to recite what he saw on the tin labels. Hope's stomach started to rumble. She couldn't even recall the last time she ate most of the stuff.

"There's chocolate, too, but it might taste a bit stale now", Lex continued regretfully. "And there's noodles and hey, even wine. I think tonight is a mighty fine occasion for a feast, don't you? I'm sure that wine's still good!"

Probably, but Lex' reputation when it came to alcohol wasn't, so Hope wasn't to keen on a so-called feast. Besides, they were all sick and tired and just needed some well-earned rest.

"Aren't you feeling sick anymore, Lex?"

"Hey, no better cure to that damn cold than a bottle of wine, baby!"

She rolled her eyes at him. "I think that will just make it worse. Anyway, don't start drinking now. There's so much to be explored."

"Yeah, yeah." Impatiently he closed the door of the cupboard again and opened a bigger one next to the bathroom door. "Raincoats. An umbrella. Clothes-pegs. Old trousers and jackets. Fishing hats. Well, could be worse."

Hope had started to open the cupboards above the cooker and was now telling Lex it's contents – mostly dishes, polish, washing-up liquid and matches.

"It's like being on a treasure hunt!" she happily exclaimed, ignoring her sore throat while still telling Lex whatever she found.

Meanwhile, Lex, who didn't care that much for plates and cups, had opened the door to the small bathroom. It was smelly in there and the little window didn't open because of the hedges that had grown behind the caravan.

"Phew, now that's a tiny space", he commented, opening on of the cupboards. "But well, there are toothpaste and toothbrushes and everything. Do I get a kiss for mentioning shampoo?"

Well, he didn't get one, although Hope smiled happily while re-arranging the seat upholstery so they could inspect the storage boxes below.

"There's even some kind of toilet in here", Lex mentioned.

"I'd say we hit the jackpot", Hope stated, opening the storage box and dragging out a pair of rather big looking pink rubber boots.

"If every caravan and cabin is like this one, then even I'd be willing to spend some time here", Lex agreed, wiping away the dust on his trousers.

"Well, nature already had its way with some of the cabins and caravans, so we won't be that lucky everywhere. But with a place like this, well, even if we'll decide to go off exploring the area, we can always come back here."

"I still think the city is our best bet", Lex insisted, leaving the bathroom door open for the smell to vanish. "I mean, don't get me wrong, this place is nice, and it's great to have food and a comfortable place to sleep. But what would I do here all day? Hugging trees? Sitting on the steps of the caravan, watching the days go by? I need some excitement and adventure, Hope."

"Well, I've had enough excitement for a while", Hope firmly stated. "I'd be happy doing nothing for a few days, maybe explore the surroundings a bit, stuff like that. There are other tribes here in the area, you know. Moana's tribe for sure, and people like Eden … we could try to make contact with them, trade with them."

"And then what? Having tribal gatherings with them, trade ugly pink rubber boots for fish, hug a few trees, then go home and sleep? Not my world, Hope."

She sighed, now scared again that one of these days, Lex would walk off on his own, leaving her behind. His next sneeze, however, brought her back into reality.

"But first things first", he grumbled. "I really want to get rid of this annoying cold. And stuff myself with beans. And that wine really looks tempting. Share a bottle with me, Hope?"

"Not today", she replied firmly. And probably not tomorrow either for Hope wasn't one for alcohol and getting wasted. But Lex seemed happy, and if some bottles of wine did that, then Hope was thankful for it. Maybe there would be enough wine to keep him around for a bit longer.

A knocking sound drew their attention to the half opened door of the caravan. Falcon was sticking her head in.

"Hey, you two… How's things going in here? Did you find anything useful?"

"We did", Hope nodded, coming closer, while Lex hid a bottle of wine behind a pillow. He certainly wasn't going to share his new found stash with the two treehuggers. "We've good a bunch of canned food in here, plus some clothes, soap and a clean bed. How about you?"

"Pretty much the same", Hawk reported. "Though I'm not exactly into canned food, dinner is secured I guess. But we thought we'd better explore the place a little more before settling in for the night, as long as we still have daylight. Are you coming?"

"Yes, sure!" Hope turned around to Lex. "Lex?"

"Yeah, right…", he groaned and got back on his feet. "We don't want birdie-girl to kick in all the doors, do we?"

This time, Falcon didn't take offense since Lex had a point there. She stepped back to give Hope and Lex room to leave the caravan, then the four of them walked along the gravel path towards another caravan that seemed to be equally intact besides its entrance being blocked by stinging nettles. Lex opened the door and stepped inside, followed by Hawk. Hope and Falcon waited outside. That caravan was definitely too small for four people to search the interior for goods.

Hearing the guys rummage through cupboards and storage boxes, the girl looked around the outside of the caravan. A huge plastic box stood on the back side, unlocked. Falcon opened the lid to check out the contents.

"Oh, yuck!" She made a face. "Damn those leaky boxes…"

Inside the box, there was a rather unidentifiable mound of something that was obviously slowly rotting away for quite a while. Some colorful leftover shreds of fabric told the sad story of what looked like it could've been a nice set of camping chair cushions before it got wet and started molding.

"Egads", Hope muttered. "I guess those are a total loss."

"Yep, definitely!"

Falcon let the lid fall back into place just as Lex and Hawk stepped back out of the caravan again.

"We found some more clothes and blankets in there, plus some candles", Lex told them. "No more canned food though."

"Well, they can't all be stacked like warehouses." Falcon shrugged.

"Obviously not… but we found something the two of you might like", Hawk said, handing each girl a hairbrush.

"Absolutely! Thanks!" Falcon grinned and put the hairbrush in her back pocket. Hope followed her example, holding back the urge to use the brush right away. But as long as she didn't get to properly wash her hair, it wouldn't work out anyway.

"There's nothing useful back there, unless we want to empty that box and use it.", Falcon then said. "But I'd suggest we don't, it doesn't seem to be tight anyway and I'm not keen on poking around in a heap of mold."

"Then let's get to the next cabin!"


End file.
